rizzles & kibbs
by briwd
Summary: The sequel to Rizzoli, Isles & Kate. NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team join forces with Boston Homicide to investigate who's behind a string of bizarre murders along the U.S. east coast. However, the perpetrator has Gibbs; Special Agent Kate Todd; Detective Jane Rizzoli; and Dr. Maura Isles in his sights...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**

He is a man of many interests, a self-styled Renaissance man.

Motivational speaking. Writing. Art. Sculpture.

The speeches, manuscripts and travel pay the bills, and allow him to create his works of art.

Some of his interests, however, are ones he keeps close to the vest - and pursues in secret.

_Someone has to take care of the whores, after all._

He prefers to keep his...darker...interests separate from his job and the hobbies he shows off to colleagues, associates and dates. Until now, they haven't crossed paths.

A week ago, after one of his seminars, he met a fan: a nice, attractive, single Naval lieutenant, here in Boston to visit her family. They hit it off, and she accepted his kind offer of dinner and a drink.

Instead of going to the bar at the hotel, she followed him to his apartment. He showed off, with faux modesty, his sculptures. Then, he led her into his living room, where he poured her a drink, and asked her to model for his latest project.

She declined, citing Navy policy, then found herself drifting into unconciousness.

This is where the Renaissance man's public and dark worlds intersected.

She was a nice lady, and would have been a very pretty model, but it was unfortunate that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he decided.

_At least she didn't feel any pain. Unlike those whores._

And unlike those others who made him look over his damned shoulder every day, wondering when they would catch up to him.

The Naval lieutenant wasn't like the others, and so he would treat her with more respect than the whores and bitches.

He'd leave a calling card, of sorts, so that others could pay their final respects.

And, he'd leave her in a place where they would be sure to find her - and where he could start to track them and put them down before they caught on to what he was doing.

As he placed the statue onto the dolly, he looked briefly at the photographs of the people he himself only referred to as 'they' or 'them':

The detective and her medical examiner girlfriend.

The former marine, turned federal agent, and his probable girlfriend, the ex-Secret Service agent now working for them.

One year of them making his life a living hell. And the medical examiner, of all people, saving his life not long ago.

_Their time is coming,_ he decided, as he wheeled the statue into the elevator.

**Boston Cambridge University**

"Where's the crime scene?" asked Barry Frost, detective, Boston Police Department Homicide Division, riding in the back passenger seat.

"Up there," said the driver: Jane Rizzoli, a fellow Homicide detective and Frost's work partner, as she pulled over behind a TV station truck.

"The commons yard," said Homicide detective Vince Korsak, Jane's former work partner. "That's right in front of the student center."

"And a core part of university lore," said Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Jane's fiancee.

"University _lore_?" Jane cracked, as she shut her door and walked alongside Maura, Frost and Korsak towards the scene.

"Yes. It is said that the founder of Boston Cambridge University walked through a patch of wilderness that its owner said was worthless, since it was unsuitable for farming. The founder looked about him and saw a great and vast university. So he met with men of great wealth who agreed with his vision, brought out the landowner, and three years later founded the university."

"Maur," Jane said, stopping. "That was in the BCU information brochure I picked up from the advisor's office in high school."

"It was also in a biography of the founder, Phineas Knox. Which I've read twice. Did you know Mr. Knox also was one of the foremost promoters of medicine in Revolutionary War-era America?"

"Did you _KNOW_, Dr. Isles, that there is a Venus de Milo bleeding from its arm in the middle of that field?" Jane said, pointing to the center of the crime scene.

"And it looks like someone's crying," Frost said, pointing to a female student standing with her boyfriend and another female with a BCU Campus Police uniformed officer on the opposite side of the scene.

"They may be the witnesses who discovered the statue," Korsak said, referring to what they were told by BCU Campus Police via telephone back at the station. "I'll go over and talk to them."

"And Maura, Frost and I will check out this latest chapter in 'university lore'," Jane said, as they crossed under the tape.

"Too bad Frankie's not here," Frost said. "He deserved the gig."

"You're not just saying that because of how Riley screwed you and Frankie over?" Jane replied.

"I'm saying that because he deserved it," Frost answered, putting on his gloves; the trio were at the statue, and Maura was looking it over. "He's got to be at the front of the line for the next opening."

"Let's worry about what's in front of us," Jane said; Riley Cooper being picked the day before for the open position in Homicide over Frankie Rizzoli still irked her.

"A piece of the statue appears to have been removed, and possibly replaced," Maura said. "An eight-and-a-half by five-inch portion, on the right buttock."

"On its _butt_?" Jane said. "Someone cut this out and slapped it back on?"

That was in fact the case, as Jane, Frost and Maura learned after hearing one of the female witnesses being interviewed by Korsak scream.

"Omigodomigod_omigod_," said the witness, a petite sophomore named Heather. "Chuck - my boyfriend - took out his hunting knife and cut into it and THERE WAS A DEAD BODY _WAAAAAAHHHH_"...

...and she then cried and wailed into Korsak's shoulder.

While Maura tried to comfort Heather, Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation, then had a campus uniformed officer bring over Chuck.

"Heather and Felice - her bestie - said to leave it alone, but there was blood and I wanted to check and see if there was a body-" Chuck said, before Jane put up a hand.

"You didn't think about this being a crime scene? And that the statue was evidence?" Jane interjected - sternly.

"Uh oh," Chuck replied, meekly.

"Uh oh is _right_," Frost said. "Why not call the campus police and let them - and us - handle it?"

"Because Heather was crying and Felice was scared and other people were talking," Chuck said. "One guy was about to knock it down. I said I'd cut into it to see what was going on."

Chuck explained how he cut out a piece of the plaster to shut everyone up - and that he slammed it back on the statue after seeing the exposed skin.

"The skin was gnarly. Pale. Dead pale, dude," he said to Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak. "Dudette. Dudes. Du_dettes_-"

Jane cut him off. "_DUDE_," she half-shouted, then gave him a lecture on interfering with a crime scene, followed by his very sincere and very long apology, Heather's crying, and Felice's pointing to the base.

"Chuck saw something else near her feet," Felice said to Maura.

"Chuck, did you cut here?" Maura asked, as Chuck continued to apologize.

"Hey _DUDE_," Jane held her hand up to Chuck's face to shut him up. "The lady's _speaking_ to you."

"And be a _gentleman_," Frost said, "and answer her question."

Maura had to repeat it, since he was babbling when she asked it the first time.

"I saw something sticking out," he explained. "Not smooth like the rest of the base - almost like an ID card."

"Where's your knife?" Jane asked him; it was in his pocket.

"I'll take it," Korsak said, as Chuck handed him a hunting knife.

"Jane?" Frost said, looking at the 'protusion'. "It does look like some sort of identification card - Chuck. Did you take it out and stick it back in?"

"No," he answered. "I cut a place to pull it out, but the cop told me to leave it alone when he saw me try to pull it out-"

"_YOU TOUCHED IT_?" Jane said; Chuck nodded. "_Great_."

Then, the plaster Chuck slapped on the buttock fell onto the ground, reexposing the flesh, and causing Heather to wail yet again.

"Somebody calm her down!" Jane yelled, then told a Boston PD uniform to escort the students away from the statue, and the media. "Maura. Might as well take a look."

Maura was ahead of Jane, examining the opening and sniffing around it.

"You're _sniffing_?! You _smell_ something, Dr. Bloodhound?"

"I _do_ detect an odor, Detective," Maura replied. "Different from the woman in the plaster statue from yesterday."

"How different?" Korsak asked; Maura looked more closely at the exposed flesh and sniffed again, then answered.

"Upon initial examination, I would say this body was refrigerated, but not as long as the body from the first statue," Maura said.

"How long was _this _one refrigerated?" Jane.

"The rate of decomposition, combined with the temperature of the flesh, suggests she may have only been refrigerated for one to two weeks," Maura replied.

"The first body was refrigerated for much longer than that," Korsak interjected. "You said two months, Dr. Isles?"

"Two to six," Maura replied.

"Two bodies, encased in plaster, arms cut off, two days in a row," Jane mused. "Frost. What did campus police say as far as security camera footage is concerned?"

"I was told there is none, from 5 a.m. on," Frost said. "The cameras were taken out with a laser pointer."

"Then we're definitely looking at a serial killer," Korsak said. "The park yesterday, BCU today, the other killings along the east coast."

The homicide detectives, and Dr. Isles, were so focused on the statue and the case, that they failed to notice two familiar faces interviewing Heather, Chuck and Felice.

"Okay," Jane said. "Let's review what we've discovered so far."

"This is plaster," Frost said of the 'statue' covering the corpse, "not bronze. Paint's chipping off quickly, too."

"And the body is very cold," said the M.E., Maura Isles. "Consistent with prolonged refrigeration of a week to two weeks. It would account for the specific degree of decomposition."

"Frozen," Korsak said.

"Not as long as the other corpse," Maura replied. "And not frozen. Refrigerated. And taken out very recently, within the past eight hours."

"Consider me corrected, doctor," Korsak replied. "Refrigerated. But _why_?"

"That's what they pay us to find _out_, Korsak," Jane said, before seeing the protrusion at the base and remembering what Chuck said about an ID.

"I know the kid said he didn't touch that card; I'm betting he lied to us," Jane remarked.

"Probably scared out of his mind," Frost replied.

"At least he's not wailing," Korsak interjected, glancing at his lapel of his coat, which Heather had cried into.

"Korsak. Gimme that knife."

Korsak handed Jane Chuck's knife, and cut away the plaster holding the badge in place.

"Frost, Korsak, Maura. It's a Navy I.D."

Frost took the laminated badge from Jane and looked it over, even as a man and woman flashed badges at a uniformed officer and headed towards the statue.

"She's a Petty Officer," Frost said. "Jane Stanton."

"If this is in fact the same person," Maura said, "I can identify her through dental records that the Navy would undoubtedly have."

"They may have DNA records as well," Korsak said.

"Shouldn't NCIS handle this?" Frost asked, as the man and woman approached them. "She's a Petty Officer."

"And that makes it our _case_," said the man, calmly and directly.

Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak looked up, and saw the familiar gruff expression of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Next to him was one of his senior agents, Special Agent Caitlin Todd.

"Dead Petty Officer places this under NCIS jurisdiction," she said.

"Well hello to you, _too_," Jane responded. "Here for a visit?"

"Here to _investigate_," Gibbs replied. "Petty Officer Jane Stanton, assigned to Norfolk, missing for two weeks, last seen with her mother here in Boston."

"I'd say your being here is a helluva coincidence, Gibbs, but I know what you think about coincidences," Jane said.

"This isn't a coincidence, Jane," Kate said. "We're in on this case now."

"Not _here_, Kate," said Jane. "Our city, our case."

"Joint jurisdiction, then," Gibbs replied.

"Excuse us?" Frost.

"Joint jurisdiction," Gibbs repeated. "Already spoke with Cavanaugh. Our cases intersect with yours. Besides. There's plenty of work to go around."

"Gibbs, _what_ are you talking about?" Jane asked, as Frost read a text on his phone.

"I think he's referring to another statue," said Frost. "Just got a text from Riley. Another Venus de Milo, three miles away. She says Woody and Roz are working it, with some feds."

"We _know_," Kate said. "The rest of our team's there, along with our M.E. Victim's civilian, and the girlfriend of a Marine."

"Same thing as here," Gibbs told them. "Venus de Milo, plaster casting, bronze paint."

"Serial killer?" Korsak asked, to see if Gibbs had come to the same conclusion that he, Jane and Frost had.

"My conclusion, too," Gibbs answered.

"Don't like the sound of _that _at all," Jane said. "Let's find out what the hell's going on here. We can sort out jurisdiction later...Gibbs, you might want to talk to those kids-"

"We just _did_, while you were looking at the statue," Kate said. "Gibbs nearly chewed their asses out for messing with the scene."

"Cavanaugh gave his approval for us to use your morgue, Dr. Isles," Gibbs said. "I assume that's where you're headed?"

"Of course," Maura replied. "I want to compare her to the victim from yesterday, and since you're here, I'll need dental X-rays, DNA samples-"

"Ahead of you on that, Doc," Gibbs said. "Ducky's already put in the request; he can fill you in when we get back to your morgue."

"I'll ride with Dr. Isles back to the station," Korsak said. "Agent Gibbs, will you and Agent Todd be following us?"

"We'll meet you there," Gibbs replied. "We're going back to the other crime scene... Rizzoli. We'll give you and Frost a ride if you want."

As they walked to Gibbs' rental car, they reviewed the crime scene and briefly discussed similar cases Gibbs' team had investigated within the past two weeks.

"Who's at the other scene?" Jane asked, as she buckled her seat belt in the back. "Burley? Paula?"

"DiNozzo," Kate said. "McGee. Ducky. And Ziva."

Jane knew from previous emails with Kate that Ziva had joined their team...and, from reading between the lines, things weren't as rosy as Kate portrayed them to be.

"Isn't DiNozzo your senior agent, Agent Gibbs?" Frost asked.

"_One _of them," Kate interjected. "The senior among the _two_ of us...you know the detectives with them?"

"Yeah," Jane said. "Woody, Roz. Both good cops, and..._Riley_. She's new."

Kate noted the hint of disdain in Jane's voice for 'Riley'; she'd have to ask her about that later on.

Assuming they got to the other crime scene in one piece.

"Strap your belts on, guys," Kate said. "Gibbs is driving."

Gibbs pulled out of his parking spot and floored it; Jane swore he went from zero to 60 in a second.

"Aw come on, Kate, you think I'm gonna kill them?" Gibbs joked.

Jane now knew first-hand what Kate meant when she talked about her boss's insane driving habits.

"Frost," she mumbled as Gibbs swerved in and out of traffic while speeding towards their destination. "Meet Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

**Author's Note:** The story of the founding of BCU and the reference to Phineas Knox is made up for the purposes of the storyline. Consider it canon for the story's universe, not for the Rizzoli & Isles television show. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Clipper Park - and the adjacent strip mall, both three miles from Boston Cambridge University - was a beehive of activity, mostly from Boston Police.

However, the group of people gathered around the crime scene were from NCIS, much to the chagrin of the Homicide detectives on site.

"I'm calling Cavanaugh," said the lead detective, Woody Hoyt, watching the agents and their medical examiner checking out the faux Venus de Milo statue left in the parking lot. "That one guy's driving me up the wall."

"He hasn't said a word to you," said his partner, Detective Roz Framus. "Besides. Just got a text from Frost."

"And...?"

"Frost says back off, till they get here. Let them finish, Rizzoli says she'll handle them."

Woody threw up his hands. "They better get here quick," he said, before noticing someone approaching from the opposite direction.

"Jordan?" Roz said.

"Damnit," Woody replied, before heading towards the statue. "Better stop her before she gets there."

"She _IS_ one of our M.E.s," Roz replied, as Woody sprinted to head her off.

At the moment, the statue itself was surrounded by NCIS agents Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee; Mossad liaison Officer Ziva David; and NCIS medical examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard.

"The statue itself seems to fit the same M.O. as the other two," McGee said as he sketched it on his paper pad.

"A most _dreadful_ interpretation of a classic work of _art_," Ducky said. "Plaster, painted bronze, cast around a corpse, arms cut off midway through the biceps bracchi muscle on both sides."

"And blood dripping from the right stump," DiNozzo observed. "I saw some creepy stuff back in Philly and Baltimore, when I was a cop. This year alone we had that supermodel impaled on a fence; Ziva found a head in a cooler; and just last week they found a guy eaten by a bear."

"Do you have a film reference for what we are looking at here, Tony?" Ziva said, as she snapped photos of the statue.

Tony shook his head.

"Not even among one of your flasher films?" Ziva replied.

"'_Flasher_' films?" asked a newcomer to the scene: Jordan Cavanaugh, the associate chief medical examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"Hello there," Ducky said, as Tony approached her, and introductions were made.

"So what's an NCIS team from Washington doing up here, taking over Boston Police's crime scene," Jordan asked, looking over the statue.

"Baby sitting," Tony replied. "This...statue, if you want to call it that...resembles a case we had in Washington, involving a dead Navy ensign-"

"Jordan!" shouted Detective Hoyt, followed by Detective Framus. "This is our crime scene, not theirs...sorry, Romeo. Our scene."

"Hey!" Tony interjected, smiling. "No problemo. We're just checking it out."

"You still haven't answered my question, 'very special agent DiNozzo'," Jordan replied.

"You mean the one about why we are here, or the one about his flasher films?" Ziva interjected; Jordan smiled, Ducky chuckled, and Tony glared at Ziva.

"They're not 'flasher' films, they're 'slasher' films...which I don't like," Tony snapped, before turning to Cavanaugh. "My apologies...Ziva sometimes misspeaks."

"Mmm hmm," Woody muttered. "You still didn't answer the lady's question, Agent DiNozzo; why are you here?"

"As if I didn't tell you before...Woody...this is similar to a case we had in D.C. involving a dead Navy Ensign, found in a park, left in public view," Tony replied.

Ziva rolled her eyes, then stepped next to DiNozzo, and Roz next to Woody, both to prevent the two alpha males from talking themselves into a confrontation with the other.

"With the same pose, the same plaster, the same blood dripping from the stump on the left arm," Ducky interjected.

"It almost looks like the Venus de Milo statue," Jordan observed. "But on the original statue, the left arm is completely cut off at the clavicle-"

"-whereas _here_, both arms were amputated at the bicep," Ducky concluded.

"I see her face is partly visible," Jordan stated. "Whomever did this did a poor job of covering it up."

"Which isn't the same as the ensign we found in D.C. ... and, according to the text from Kate, not the same as the statue at the university," McGee said.

"Which one?" Jordan asked, and McGee and Detective Riley Cooper filled her in on what they were told about the statue at BCU.

"Definite pattern, then," Jordan concluded. "But why was this woman's face partly obscured?"

"That is what _WE'RE_ going to find out, Jordan," Woody said, looking at DiNozzo. "She's civilian, Boston native. Just because she dates a Marine doesn't keep it from being our case."

"Never said it _did_, 'Woody'," Tony replied. "There _is_ a connection with the ensign and the officer we found at the university, which means it could be the same killer."

"Serial?" Woody replied. "Two here in Boston...one in D.C. ... sonofabitch."

50 yards away - behind a row of Boston Police cruisers - Gibbs pulled up in his rental, spotting the statue, and his team and the detectives around it.

Frost got out of the back seat, a little dazed. "Good lord, Jane...that guy drove like he was in an Indy Car race. How many laws did he _break_?"

"I think he stopped at that last stop sign," Jane replied, shutting her door, and seeing Gibbs jogging towards the scene, agent Kate Todd following behind him.

"That was a _rolling_ stop; _then_ he sped _up_," Frost replied, as he observed Gibbs and Kate. "Looks like they're in a hurry...and Woody's talking to one of those other guys."

"DiNozzo," Jane said, before breaking into a jog herself. "Come on, Frost...better make sure he hasn't already driven Woody crazy."

Tony hadn't driven Woody crazy, but Detective Hoyt was relieved to see his coworkers Rizzoli and Frost - and Tony's 'boss', Gibbs - approach them.

"Agent Gibbs," Woody said, extending his hand to Tony's boss. "Detective Woody Hoyt, Boston Police, Homicide Division-"

"Good to meet you," Gibbs said. "This is Agent Caitlin Todd" - nodding to one of his two senior agents, standing alongside him - "and I trust you've met the rest of my team."

"Yes, and 'very special agent' DiNozzo was telling me you're observing Homicide's crime scene," Woody said, pointing to the statue. "Isn't that right, Jane?"

_Of all the times for a pissing match,_ Jane thought to herself.

"You're right," Gibbs replied. "This _is_ your scene, because the victim's a civilian. _Our_ scene is at BCU - which we're about to head back to, before we take that victim to your morgue."

"Our morgue?" Roz said.

"Yeah, your morgue," Gibbs replied. "After Duck looks at the body at BCU, it's headed there - and oh yeah, Detective. Joint case, your department and us."

Woody, Roz and Riley looked at Jane and Frost.

"_He's_ right," Jane said. "Joint jurisdiction, because this and the other two statues match their case in Washington...we'll meet you back at Homicide, after Gibbs and his team look at BCU."

"We'll follow you," Woody said. "I want to see that thing for myself."

The body of the Marine girlfriend was prepped for transport back to Boston Police's Division One building, and the teams walked back to their cars.

"Woody," Frost said to Hoyt. "Can I ride with you and Roz?"

"Sure," he replied, "but you know Riley's with us, right?"

"Compared to _that_ guy" - nodding towards Gibbs - "and how _crazy_ he drives? I can handle riding in the back seat with Riley."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Boston Police Department**  
**Division One headquarters**

Finally, the crowd in the Division One Cafe had died down, and Stanley - its owner and manager - could take a break.

That meant sitting behind the counter while Angela Rizzoli, his assistant, talked to her son.

"On _company time_!" Stanley groaned. "You're lucky I'm being _nice_ to you this time...you get five minutes!"

"Five _minutes_?" Angela half-shouted from one of the tables in the cafe. "Stanley, I promise I won't be very long and the moment people walk in I'll be back behind the counter-"

"Then _hurry_ up!" Stanley saw packets of ketchup strewn about the counter and got flustered. "Does anybody anymore care about things being where they _belong_? And-"

"Ma," said Angela's son, Officer Frankie Rizzoli, sitting across from her. "Really, I'm fine-"

"No you are _not_ fine, Frankie," Angela said. "You _should_ have gotten that _promotion_-"

"Ma, don't worry, really," he replied, putting his hand over his mom's. "I'll get my badge. I'll get it later than I thought, but I'll get it."

"Do you want me to _talk_ to Lieutenant _Cavanaugh_? I can _talk _to him if you want-"

"_NO_!" Frankie half-shouted, then put his hands over his mother's, again, to calm and reassure her. "Ma, really, I'll be fine-"

Behind them, a large group of people entered the building's main entrance, and all looked to be heading directly towards the cafe.

"Just when everything finally died down," Stanley grumbled. "Rizzoli! Break's over!"

Angela got up - reluctantly - started to walk to the counter, then stopped and turned back to her son.

"Frankie, I can _talk_ with Lieutenant-"

"Maaaaa..." Frankie nodded towards the group entering the cafe. "Jane and Frost need their coffee."

"It's Jane and Frost and Woody and...her," Angela said, repeating the obvious, and referring last to Riley Cooper.

"And some others...hey. It's those Navy cops. From Washington," Frankie said, recognizing the other people with the group of Homicide detectives.

"RIZZOLI!" yelled Stanley, as a line formed.

"Hey! Stop yelling at my ma!" snapped Jane Rizzoli, second in line. "She's on her way...right Ma?"

"Of course!" Angela said, scurrying back to the counter.

"Get back there and take care of that coffee machine!" Stanley growled, before turning to the man at the head of the line. "How can I help you."

"Large coffee. Black." The man said nothing else and stood there, impassively.

"You heard the man! Large coffee! Black!" Stanley snapped at Angela before looking over the man's shoulder at Jane. "You want the usual, Detective?"

"You always talk to your employees like that, Mr. Fish?" the man said.

Stanley was momentarily taken aback, then gathered himself. "Coffee black, right?"

"Yeah...you normally talk to your employees that way?"

"What's it matter to _you_?" Stanley grumbled. "Angela! _You_ know how your daughter likes her coffee-"

"Shouldn't _talk_ to her like that," the man repeated himself, annoyed, as Jane and everyone else behind her wondered what in hell was about to go down.

"What the hell do you-_look_, pal. You _want_ your coffee or _not_?!"

"Keep your damn coffee," the man replied. "What I _want_ is you to apologize to the lady."

"What in the world is this guy doing," Frankie muttered to himself, as he looked on from his table.

"That's none of your damn _business_!" Stanley spat! "And _who_ the hell _are_ you anyway, buddy?"

"Leroy. Jethro. Gibbs. NCIS," the man replied, pulling out his badge.

Stanley looked at the badge, and realized who the man in front of him was. He had heard a lot of gossip about Gibbs, during the many months Jane and Dr. Maura Isles were in Washington, and after Jane and Maura returned to Boston.

Gibbs, he heard, was not a guy to mess with - and Stanley knew he did not want to find himself on Gibbs' bad side.

Stanley abruptly did a 180, apologizing profusely to Gibbs, Angela, Angela again, then Jane, then Frankie, then Angela, Gibbs, Frankie AND Jane, and offered free coffee and donuts on the house to everyone.

"This better be good coffee," Gibbs said, firmly. "Or _you'll_ pay _ME_."

As Gibbs' team and the other Homicide detectives collected their free coffee and pastries, Jane made her way to Frankie.

"Pretty stand-up guy," Frankie said, impressed at what he had seen - and embarassed, too. "_We_ should have been the ones to yell at Stanley, Jane-"

"I know," Jane admitted. "Guess we've seen him like that so long we've gotten used to him...Ma _looks_ happier."

Angela Rizzoli did look happier, and more relaxed, even when handing a coffee and donut to Riley Cooper. When she wasn't dealing with her customers, she was sneaking glances at Gibbs.

"Jane, you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah. Free coffee and donuts from Stanley. Thought I'd never see the day."

"No, Jane...you see Ma?"

"Of course. She looks really happy...and I _know_ I owe Gibbs after all of that."

"_NO_, Jane...she looks like she's really into Gibbs..._REALLY_ into Gibbs."

Jane looked at her mother, standing next to the coffee machine while Stanley tended to the last people in line: Agent Tim McGee and Officer Ziva David.

"Oh my god," Jane said. "She's..."

"Smitten?"

"Yeah-no. _No_. Can't be. That's _not_ at all what _I'm_ seeing."

"No?"

"No...Frankie. _NO_."

"...no?... No. No, Jane. No. We're _not_ seeing what it _looks_ like we're seeing."

"No."

"Nope."

"Oh _god_," Jane whined, as her and Frankie's mother laid her chin on her palm and looked dreamily over towards Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who was talking with his team. "Frankie, I'm _really_ gonna owe Gibbs big time for this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Morgue, BPD Division One headquarters**

Ducky Mallard briefly looked up from the body of the victim Homicide had investigated the day before. She was the first of what the local media had began referencing as the 'Venus de Milo killings'; though she was civilian, and therefore not under NCIS jurisdiction, Ducky still took a look at the body to see how similar it was to the Petty Officer found at BCU.

Ducky looked around at the workspace of Dr. Maura Dorthea Isles, Head Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and her second, Assistant Medical Examiner Jordan Cavanaugh. It was similar to his own, if a little larger, and perhaps a bit more open.

He noticed a few of Dr. Isles' African art pieces hanging up - she informed him most were either in her office or at her home - and decided he missed the character they brought to his more sterile morgue back in Washington.

"Everything alright, Dr. Mallard?" Jordan said, snapping Ducky out of his thoughts.

"Ah," Ducky replied, "yes, Jordan. I am fine. Just finishing up my examination of this poor young woman."

"And what have you found?" asked Maura, looking up from the body of the BCU victim.

"Nothing any different from our other two victims, nor from the victims we found in Washington," Ducky replied. "The cuts, the plaster, how the body was maneuvered, are the same."

Jordan - looking at the mask of the woman found earlier that day at the park - then took the mask and held it up.

"Looks like the authentic Venus de Milo, too, in the face," Jordan commented. "Either the killer is a really good artist, or he's using a plaster mold to replicate the features of the original statue."

"I would say the killer is using a mold," Maura said, looking at the mask. "The facial features on her mask and the mask from this victim are exactly the same-"

"Yes," Ducky interjected. "The spacing between the eyes, the features of the nose, even the structure of the chin and jawline."

Maura looked over all three victims, again.

"See something else, Dr. Isles?" Jordan.

"Bodily structure is almost identical for all three women," Maura explained. "They are all the same height, same body type. The one from the park is Caucasian-Latina, the other two are Caucasian-"

"One from D.C. was also Caucasian, and the other was African-American," Ducky added.

"He's looking for a body _type_," Jordan said. "Question is, is that's all he's looking for?"

"That is for our detective and agent friends to uncover," Ducky mused. "I fear that they won't uncover the motivation - and track down the killer - before he or she strikes again."

Right then, the door to the morgue opened, and the three M.E.s saw Jane Rizzoli and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, trailed by Kate Todd.

"Not gonna wait around to find out, Duck," Gibbs said.

"Fill us in on what you found, Maura," Jane said to Maura, "so Kate and our people can start a profile on this creep."

Maura proceeded to inform Jane, Gibbs and Kate what she, and Jordan and Ducky, discovered about the bodies.

**Homicide squadroom**

Gibbs left Tony, Ziva and McGee behind with instructions to be quiet and observe.

For Tony, the 'be quiet' part ended after the elevator doors shut; he proceded to work the room and introduce himself to everyone - particularly those of the female variety.

"What happened to 'be quiet and observe'," McGee muttered to Ziva, as Tony began to chat up Det. Riley Cooper.

"Apparently he thinks it only applies to _us_," Ziva replied.

Riley, politely, declined Tony's invitation to discuss the local bar scene. And James Bond movie trivia. _And_ the comparison of Kevin Garnett to Kevin McHale.

"Tony is going over with these detectives like a lead fart," Ziva said; Frost, sitting nearby, overheard her and looked up in surprise.

"Ziva. Lead _balloon_. The idiom is 'lead balloon'," McGee corrected her.

Tony glanced over at his fellow NCIS team members, and saw their reaction. He understood they'd rather him shut up, but in his mind there was a method to his madness. _What better way to profile these detectives in a short time, to gauge the temperature of the room._

DiNozzo made eye contact with McGee and Ziva, and glanced towards Korsak and Frost.

McGee shook his head, and mouthed 'Gibbs'.

DiNozzo made eye contact again, and glanced towards Frost - who noticed him - and Korsak. Ziva made a headslap gesture to the back of her head, and McGee shook his head.

Tony glared at them both, briefly, then reintroduced himself to Detectives Woody Hoyt and Roz Framus, and proceeded to make small talk. To Woody's chagrin, Tony began with a list of top five movies set in Boston.

"Is he _always_ like that?" Frost whispered to McGee and Ziva.

"Oh, it never stops," Ziva answered. "He is a clattertooth."

Frost looked at her, mystified by what she had just said.

"A clattertooth'?" Frost asked Ziva. "Like a snaggletooth?"

"No. A clattertooth. Constantly clatters. _Never_ shuts up-"

"I think Ziva means _chatterbox_," McGee interjected. "Which he is. Once he gets started, it's hard to stop him."

"Ah," Frost replied, then remembered Jane's debriefing of the NCIS team from her lengthy time with them in Washington. "He's your senior agent, right? How good of an agent is he?"

"He's _one_ of them, Kate's the other, and he's pretty good when he sticks to business," McGee said, as Korsak joined in on the conversation.

"I don't think Agent DiNozzo's gotten on Woody's good side," Korsak said, pointing over towards Detective Hoyt, who was extremely annoyed over the NCIS agent's abrupt recounting of Jerry O'Connell movies. "Think we should go over there and rescue him?"

"No," Ziva said. "Besides, he _does_ know when to back down."

"He's working the room so he can know who we're dealing with here," McGee said. "The same way Jane's brother did when he visited the Navy Yard last March, and the same way you two are doing now."

_Kid's perceptive, and smart,_ Korsak thought. "Pretty good observations, Agent McGee," he replied. "Is he saving us for last?"

"Tony is doing what Tony does," Ziva interjected. "He is a good agent, and despite appearances is no moron."

"But don't tell him that. Or don't tell him we said that," McGee added.

Ziva nodded her head in agreement. "Definitely not," she agreed. "Otherwise his head will grow until it pops like a _tit_."

Korsak was speechless. Frost stared at Ziva momentarily, then at McGee - who looked as if he'd heard the metaphor from her before - and a moment later, started giggling uncontrollably.

That caught Tony's attention from the other side of the squad room.

"Hey, McFunny!" Tony yelled. "You putting on a comedy show over there?"

Frost was besides himself with laughter, and Korsak spoke up.

"Just getting to know us, Agent DiNozzo," he said. "Just like you're getting to know Woody and Roz."

"Frost's gonna laugh himself to death," Roz commented.

"Better go over there, then and put an end to the McComedy Hour," Tony said, walking towards his teammates; Woody mouthed to Korsak 'YOU CAN HAVE HIM'.

Frost finally gathered himself, and put out his hand to shake Tony, who did likewise, and then with Korsak.

"So what's the joke, Probie, that you have one of Boston's finest doubled over in laughter?" Tony said, as the elevator doors opened in the hallway.

"Not me. _Ziva_," McGee thumbed to Officer David, who feigned ignorance.

"Apparently Mossad officers aren't just trained to kill," Tony quipped. "They're also trained to make jokes. What is it, Zee-vah? The one where I superglued Probie's face to the keyboard? Or the one where me and Kate-wait. Frost? Tell me."

"She..she said your head would pop like a tit," Frost said before doubling over in laughter as Jane, Gibbs, Kate and Maura walked towards them.

"Oh, okay, Zee-Vah, the joke's on me," Tony complained, while Frost tried to contain himself again, and Ziva and McGee straightened themselves up. "You two. Don't-"

"Don't _what_, DiNozzo." Tony stopped, hearing Gibbs' voice over his left shoulder.

"Yeah, Tony," Kate interjected, smiling and stepping on Tony's right side. "You were telling Ziva and McGee something. Don't _what_?"

"_Sorry_ boss," Tony said, glancing to his left, then mock-sneering at Kate. "Probie. Zee-vah. Don't just stand there. Tell the boss what you've observed."

Tony played like McGee and Ziva were in the crosshairs, though he was well aware all eyes were on him.

"We saw 'very special agent DiNozzo' introducing himself to everyone as a representative of NCIS," Ziva stated.

"Special Agent DiNozzo wanted to meet Boston's finest for themselves," McGee followed.

Jane, ready to headslap DiNozzo if he even breathed wrongly, found Maura grapsing her hand - and giving her a 'don't you dare' look.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, and Tony braced himself.

"Boss," Tony said. "The homicide division of Boston's finest lives up to its name. We'll be working with some solid pros."

"Good thinking, not pulling out the 'almost as good as Baltimore' card," Jane whispered to DiNozzo.

"DiNozzo. Ziva. McGee," Gibbs said, stepping from behind Tony to address the group. "You'll work the case with Abby and Ducky in Washington. Me and Kate will work the case here with Homicide."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**  
**Homicide squadroom**

Tony looked at Gibbs in shock: this wasn't how he expected the investigation to go.

"Boss?" Tony replied. "I thought we were-"

"Thought _what_, DiNozzo?" said Gibbs, in no mood for questions, and unconcerned with whatever questions anyone else had.

"Thought we all were working with Homicide on the case."

"We _are_. I'll be here. Kate will be here with me. While the rest of you go back at the Navy Yard," Gibbs said. "_Tonight_."

Korsak and Frost looked at Jane, expecting she'd follow up on Gibbs' statement: in truth, Jane was as much in the dark as anyone else - including Kate, judging by her reaction.

"Ah, well...this _IS_ a joint case, so it makes sense that NCIS will be involved," Jane said. "We'll be in, ah, constant communication with you in Washington, Tony, and Maura will be doing the same with Ducky."

A moment later, Gibbs looked at his D.C. bound agents and liaison officer, waiting for their response.

"We'll do the same with the detectives," Tony finally said, his answer seemingly satisfying Gibbs.

**Division One Cafe**

After determining they wouldn't have enough time to stop at a local restaurant before catching a cab to Logan - and finding a nearby Jewish delicatessen that would deliver - the D.C. bound NCIS team got lunch in the Division One Cafe.

A word from Lt. Cavanaugh kept Stanley quiet about Ziva bringing food into the dining area; Tony, McGee and Ducky ordered from the cafe, with Tony eating two cheeseburgers and making small talk with Jane's mother, Angela.

"Getting more dirt on Rizzoli, Tony?" McGee said as the co-senior agent walked back to their table with his second cheeseburger.

"No dirt on a former, much-missed colleague, Probie," Tony answered. "Just getting acquainted with her mother."

"Just as you attempted to 'get acquainted' with McGee's sister?" Ziva followed.

"If 'getting acquainted' means going through that lady's apartment, maybe we better catch that cab to the airport," McGee said.

"Come on, McJimmyJohns," Tony shot back, pointing to McGee's turkey sub. "Me and Kate, we were just checking up on you again-"

"-and going through the ribbons on my typewriter."

"Speaking of, what were you doing with that? Writing the Great American McNovel?"

"_None_ of your business-"

Ducky put his hand up. "Silence is a virtue, as is the rare-for-your opportunity to eat a quiet lunch without the presence of Jethro," he said - causing Tony and McGee to check their phones.

"Habit," Tony said. "Making sure the boss or Kate haven't texted us."

"Do you expect Gibbs to put us to work so soon after sending us back?" Ziva asked, sincerely, and all three men chuckled.

"Speaking of Gibbs," Tony said, between bites of fries and cheeseburger. "I know he mentioned he and Kate staying here and the rest of us going back, before talking about us all staying up here. Anyone else expect him to split us up?"

"I thought we would take over the case from the local police," Ziva replied.

"I didn't expect _that_," McGee followed. "If it were Metro DC, maybe. I expected we'd all stay here and work with Boston Homicide. Figured we'd get a hotel somewhere."

"Probie's got a point," Tony said. "Gibbs respects Jane, and because he respects her he probably respects her team enough to willing work with them."

"And, the cases for the Washington-area murders are still open; in fact I need to be back to examine the latest victim - Mr. Palmer is still very much a neophyte," Ducky added. "Perhaps Jethro expects - and trusts - you three to solve those particular cases in his absence."

"Makes sense," McGee said, and the others agreed.

Then Tony spoke up.

"But to keep Kate with him? Why?"

"She got to know Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles fairly well," McGee offered. "She was closer to them than the rest of us."

"Perhaps her profiling skills are more beneficial here than they would be in Washington," Ziva added.

"And she could serve as a liaison in case Jethro proved, ah, to be difficult to deal with," Ducky followed. "As he can be with outside authorities."

"Or." Tony said, before finishing up his second burger.

"Or _what_, Tony?" McGee.

"You _know_ what I'm getting at, Probie," Tony replied. "All of you."

"That's bad scuttlebutt," McGee shot back. "Director Shepard must've ordered Gibbs to have Kate stay here and send us back."

"Do you _believe_ that, McGee?" Ziva.

McGee bit into his sandwich and chewed, while Angela attempted to eavesdrop from behind the counter.

"Rule 12," Tony said, "applies to _us_." _Never date a coworker._

"Are you implying he is breaking his own rule?" Ziva replied. "NCIS rules do not forbid dating amongst agents-"

"If you work on his team, you go by _his_ rules, _all_ of them," Tony said. "I've _noticed_ things-"

"What sort of things are you implying, Tony?" Ducky interjected.

"The same sort of things you've noticed _yourself_, Duck. The same sort of things _you've_ seen, McGee, and _you_, Ziva, that Abby and probably even Palmer and most likely the director herself have seen," Tony said in a low voice. "And that half the Navy Yard claims to have seen."

"Are you accusing the boss of breaking his own rules?" McGee said to Tony.

"Probie. I'm not saying I've seen them go on dates, holding hands, making out, sleeping together-"

Angela was cleaning the counter, very slowly, and making mental notes to discuss later on with Jane.

"-but I've noticed glances, looks. Stares. How protective he is of her, as opposed to how he relates to Ziva or Abby. How he talks to her as opposed to the rest of us."

"He's never headslapped her," Ziva observed. "Of course, he's never headslapped Abby, either...are you suggesting-"

"Abby's a daughter to Gibbs," Tony clarified. "Like the one he had that we never, ever talk about."

"Anthony...are you suggesting that Jethro has...feelings for Caitlin?" Ducky.

Tony took a drink of his soda.

"Yep," Tony said. "At least since Ari broke into the morgue, maybe even going back to Air Force One. I can't say for certain they're gettin' busy, but there's something between them. I think he's got it bad for her, and she's got feelings for him...and if you're all honest, you'd admit the same thing."

Ziva, noticing Angela by the counter, spoke in a whisper.

"Tony, perhaps this is not the best place to have this conversation," she cautioned.

"Why _not_? It raised itself when he split us up, and do you really want to talk about this at the Navy Yard-"

"Anthony," Ducky himself cautioned. "Ziva is right. The walls do have ears - and so do parents of certain detectives friendly with members of our own team."

**Homicide squadroom**

"Where are the NCIS agents?" Korsak asked Frost, walking back in from the men's room.

"The ones going back to Washington just caught a cab to Logan; the ones staying here are talking with Cavanaugh," Frost told him. "Jane went in there with them, then stepped out to talk with Dr. Isles."

"Wonder when they'll set a date?" Korsak.

"Jane and Maura?" Frost answered, as he pulled up the Venus de Milo case file from Philadelphia on his screen.

"Of course," Korsak replied. "Who else would I be talking about?"

Frost glanced towards Cavanaugh's office.

"Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd?" Korsak asked; Frost nodded.

"Jane thought Gibbs had a thing for Kate," Frost said. "Told me when we were catching up on cold case files awhile back. Said he might have been in denial, or conflict, over some rule he has for himself and his team about not dating coworkers-"

"He wouldn't be the first one," Korsak replied. "Lots of companies, some police departments, have policies against fraternization."

"Funny thing about the whole deal was how it appeared to be a 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of deal," Frost continued. "She thought it was because of the deal with Haswari, and because the old director was ex-military. And she said Gibbs and Kate never made a move on one another, openly, while she and Maura were working with them."

"If that's true," Korsak said, "it makes sense. They wouldn't be the first workplace couple to stay on the 'down low'."

"Look at you, getting all hip with your vocabulary," Frost teased the veteran detective. "Whatever was going on with them, Jane said they never let it interfere with their jobs."

"Many people don't," Korsak said. "What else did Jane say?"

"Well, Dr. Isles walked in here, overheard Jane, and shushed her before she could spill the rest of the NCIS 'scuttlebutt'," Frost replied, then chuckled. "Dr. Isles already has Jane wrapped around her finger."

"Henpecked," Korsak countered, and both detectives laughed.

**Hallway outside the morgue, Boston P.D.**

Having doublechecked blood samples with Maura and Jordan, Jane walked out of the morgue, and to the elevator.

To Jane's surprise, her mother, Angela, was there. Angela stepped out and grabbed Jane by the arm.

"I need to talk with you," Angela said, with a look of curiosity, concern and disappointment on her face.

"Ma? What's going on?"

Angela then told Jane all about the conversation she overheard Gibbs' team having in the cafe.

"You listened in-Ma! You _listened_ _in_ on them?"

"I couldn't help myself," Angela said, sheepishly.

"And?" Jane countered.

"They were just talking about them being together, and keeping it quiet," Angela said. "I think one of them made me, and I snuck out before they could try to stop me-"

"Stop you?" Jane said. "Stop you from doing _what_?"

"I don't know. Telling you about Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd-"

"Ma," Jane said, reaching out to hug her mother. "Ma. They're good agents, and good people. I saw that myself for almost a whole year...if you're worried about them being bad people or screwing us over-"

"Oh Jane," Angela said, resting her head on Jane's shoulder. "Honey I'm not worried about _that_. It's just...they remind me of that horrible time we all went through last year-"

"They went through it _too_, Ma."

"And I hope they, and you and Maura, never go through anything _like_ it again," Angela moped. "Oh honey-"

"Ma, we'll be _fine_," Jane said, looking her mother in the eye. "They're here to help us catch this lunatic, and when we do, they'll go back to Washington...is something else bothering you?"

"Well, that Lydia girl's been in the cafe the past few days-"

"_Really_? Tommy-"

"But that's not what I'm referring to," Angela admitted. "I was going to ask you about Agent Gibbs when I saw him in the cafe. I was going to ask you if he's _single_."

"And...when you heard his team talk...you thought he was taken...oh _Ma_."

Jane embraced her Ma, again. "You'll find someone. You're beautiful, smart, determined, strong, and there're plenty of guys out there interested in you...even if they're not Gibbs."

Angela sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "Maybe you're right, Jane. You found someone" - nodding towards the morgue - "and I'll find someone else, _too_."

"Come on," Jane said, as she guided Angela back to the elevator. "Stanley's gotta be goin' nuts by himself."

As they waited for the elevator to reach their floor, a thought occurred to Jane.

_Yes. It was a good thing Ma saw Gibbs interested in someone else. I like the guy, but I would not want him to be my stepfather._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**  
**Boston**

Gibbs looked for an empty room in the BPD Division One building, anywhere someone wouldn't listen in on him.

He settled for the sidewalk outside the building entrance.

Gibbs paced the sidewalk, looking for the place where Rizzoli shot herself to kill the bastard who held a gun to her head and nearly killed her brother.

It, Gibbs told her long ago, was a hell of a risk - and one he'd have headslapped Jane into next week for if she had been on his team.

In reality, Gibbs would have half-heartedly read her the riot act. There was no other choice she could have made, he realized, and he was happy she made it through.

God only knows what Ari might have done with Dr. Isles had Jane Rizzoli not been around to watch out for her.

Satisfied no one was directly eavesdropping on him, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and punched in the phone number for NCIS Director Jenny Shepard.

The phone rang 11 times before the director finally picked up. She took the call outside her office, next to her secretary's desk.

"I'm in a _meeting_, Jethro," Jenny said, annoyed at the interruption.

"You _wanted_ a sitrep, Jen, didn't you?" Gibbs replied, unconcerned about whatever Jenny was doing at the moment.

"SecNav does not like to be kept waiting, Jethro - but yes, I wanted an update."

Gibbs told her about the two women found in Boston earlier in the day, encased in plaster, and his decision to send everyone but Kate and himself back to Washington.

"So why you and _Caitlin_, Jethro?" Jenny asked. "Why not you and Tony, or Ziva, or even McGee. Or one of them and Kate?"

"Questioning my decisions, Jen?" Gibbs replied; Jenny hated his tone, the same one that suggested he didn't want to be bothered with explaining himself to anyone, much less his own boss.

Or that he got up on the wrong side of his boat that morning.

"In case you forgot - Agent Gibbs - I am the _director_, and when I have questions about your decision process, you answer those questions to my satisfaction," Jenny shot back.

"My 'decision process' is my gut's telling me something's going on up here and I want to investigate it _here_, not from Washington," he told Jenny. "Kate knows Rizzoli, and if Boston PD gives us problems she can help smooth things over."

"As in being a liaison to Boston Police?" Jenny retorted. "Or as in how you asked me to smooth things over with Interpol back in Paris?"

_Goddam it,_ Jenny, Gibbs thought. _It's not like that at all._

"Jethro?"

"I don't want DiNozzo up here. I want him down there; he's more than capable of running part of the investigation down there without screwing things up. Kate can work with Homicide and talk them out of getting in our way and help me find who's responsible."

"Who's going to talk you out of getting in their way?" Jenny said, impatiently.

"_Their_ way?"

"Yes, Jethro. _Their_ way. Which you are _not_ going to get in. They have their own cases, and I promised Lieutenant Cavanaugh you wouldn't run roughshod over their people nor their investigations-"

"Dammit, Jen. I'm trying to catch the bastard who's killed all these women-"

"Your reputation doesn't include 'work well with others'."

"C'mon, Jen. Give me more credit than that."

"Jethro," Jenny said, looking at her watch. "As much as I enjoy our spirited conversations, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this one short, so I don't leave the Secretary of the Navy waiting one second longer than the ten minutes he's already waited too long for. You and I will talk later, about the case - and about your personnel choices."

Gibbs heard a click on his cell, half-chuckled and half-groaned, then dialed the morgue at the Navy Yard; he knew Ducky would call his assistant, Jimmy Palmer, first thing after he and the others disembarked off their flight from Logan Airport.

Palmer stammered through the conversation - to Gibbs' great annoyance - but got the message: have DiNozzo and Ducky call me when they get off the plane.

Gibbs hung up, and wondered where the nearest coffee shop was, before settling for the cafe in the building behind him. It was still open, and whatever they served was much better than the instant crap in the Mr. Coffee machine in Homicide's squadroom.

He also took note of the officer sitting in the squad car 15 feet from Gibbs' position.

_Not a bad effort for someone who wants to be a detective,_ Gibbs thought of the man in the car,_ though I can smell Frankie Rizzoli from a mile away._

**Morgue**

Kate Todd had gotten over her discomfort with corpses during her time at NCIS. If you couldn't stomach seeing a dead person - much less watching Ducky conduct an autopsy - you had no chance of staying on Gibbs' team.

That didn't mean Kate was as comfortable around corpses as Ducky, or Dr. Isles and Dr. Cavanaugh, were. She tolerated it as part of the job; Ducky's efforts at making her more comfortable in the morgue helped a great deal, too - and she hadn't told him that enough.

Kate really preferred to be amongst the living. One bad thing already happened in the NCIS morgue, to Palmer's predecessor Gerald Jackson, and Kate didn't think about how she herself could have ended up on one of Ducky's slabs.

It only came back to her in her nightmares.

The three women lying on the slabs before her - the older woman with the Cruella de Ville streak in her hair, and the two much younger women - unnerved Kate a little more than usual. But why?

Kate examined one of the women - Petty Officer Stanton - and looked closely at the cuts in her arms. _That's it,_ Kate thought. _This...creep cutting off her arms. That's what's creeping me out._

She pulled up the portion of the sheet covering Petty Officer Stanton's feet, remembering something Jordan had mentioned. Kate looked at Stanton's feet, then at Cruella's and the other woman's.

_Cigarette burns. That's weird. Creepy. As if this isn't weird and creepy enough._

Kate pulled the sheet back over Stanton's feet, and looked around her. The windows in the room were comforting, as were the sun rays peeking through.

_Were those windows the reason Maura picked this room?_ Kate thought. _Kind of a woman's touch - much more than that steely place Ducky and Palmer work in._

_Ugh._

Kate wasn't about to check out the back entrance, where Maura's bodies were brought in.

She really wasn't down here to look at the victims, anyway.

It was to clear her head.

"God only knows what everyone else is saying and thinking," Kate whispered. "Gibbs and I. Me and Gibbs."

Kate understood she was here to serve as a liaison between Gibbs and Homicide in case things didn't work out. She also knew Gibbs respect her investigative abilities and had come to see her on the same level as Tony; he damn well better, given how well he had trained her and how hard she worked to get there.

Gibbs treated her as uniquely as he treated the others - sometimes brusque, sometimes kind, sometimes oh-so-gentle and always honest.

"I see the same things in you I saw in your sister," Gibbs once told Kate, shortly after she failed to kill Ari in Ducky's morgue, and she beat herself up over it. She told Gibbs her sister Julie would have killed Ari, easily.

"Probably," Gibbs replied. "_You're_ the one on my team. Your sister belongs in Los Angeles, with Vance. You're good. You'll learn, won't make the same damn mistake again."

"Because you'll fire me if I do."

"Because you _won't_ make the same mistake again," Gibbs repeated, before walking away.

It was another in an occasional series of events that made Kate wonder about the man...and her feelings for him.

In Kate's regimented world, family was family, coworkers were coworkers, and both were as separate as church and state; never the twain should meet.

NCIS - specifically, Gibbs' team - blew that all to shreds.

Kate spent as much time with her flesh and blood in the past two years as she did in a typical month with her teammates. Abby had become as much of a sister to her as Rachel and Julie, annoying Tony was almost as close to her as her FBI brother Daniel and Uncle Ducky had become a friend.

Given enough time, she'd grow close to McGee and Palmer, too. Maybe even Ziva - if she didn't get sent back to her crazy Mossad father, kicking and screaming.

And then there was Gibbs. Jethro. Leroy. Bastard, Silver Fox, Gunny, Boss.

Gibbs has a Rule 12 - never date a coworker - that is law for his team. She knew full well that dating coworkers and sleeping with them was a very bad idea, even as she broke it more than once.

After the incident on Air Force One, and Lieutenant Kerry's death, Kate swore to herself she would never come close to breaking anyone's Rule 12, ever again.

So why was she considering doing the same with her own supervisor?

"God only knows what everyone else is saying about this," Kate muttered to herself as she walked to the front entrance. "I know why I'm here...and Gibbs is here...and why Tony's not..."

Kate stopped herself. _This is not the time nor the place to think about that. We have a case to solve._

She walked out of the morgue, towards the elevator, ignoring senior criminalist Susie Chang, whom had observed her from the hallway and made a mental note of what Kate had said to herself.

Whatever Susie heard and saw didn't amount to much, because Kate kept the more important, and incriminating, parts of her internal monologue unspoken.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Downtown Boston**  
**Dennis Rockmond's apartment**

"Yes...I'll be there...11:45 is fine...speech and meet-and-greet...okay. Providence, Springfield, Stamford...and an appearance on Channel 2. Alright, all that sounds good. We'll touch base at the book signing...good bye."

Dennis Rockmond, by all outward appearances, is a successful man.

Motivational speaker. Best-selling author. Up and coming sculptor. Good looks. Money. Sex appeal. Women.

One radio talk show host called Rockmond the next Anthony Robbins. The female co-host of Boston's top-rated morning TV show practically threw herself at him in the show's green room. Four of the New England Patriots cheerleaders nearly got into a catfight over which one would date him. The Boston Dispatch gossip columnist anointed him as 'Boston's finest bachelor'.

Yes, in the eyes of the world Dennis Rockmond was already a successful man headed towards stardom.

Inwardly, Dennis Rockmond was a cauldron of bitterness, rage, hate, pain and paranoia.

He had masked it and managed it well enough over the years, from the time he was abandoned as a child, wandering the country and falling in with a variety of survivalists and fringe groups. He cared nothing about their rhetoric; he learned as much as he could from survivalists and former Marines, Green Berets and SEALs on how to fight, how to arm himself, how to live on the run.

Becoming Dennis Rockmond as a teenager, he used his intelligence and good looks - and hard work in the classroom - to charm his way out of an inner-city public school into a scholarship at a major public university. He graduated with honors with a degree in business; by age 30, he had risen to the vice presidency of a media company, which he parlayed into his second career in motivational speaking.

He had the good fortune to earn a ton of money, which he then funneled into funding his secret obsession, which he decided to drop after thinking he would never find the mother who abandoned him.

That's when he decided to retire and start over south of the border. All he needed was a little extra cash.

Through his less-than-savory contacts, Rockmond found out someone was looking for a mercenary. He didn't give a damn who or why, just that for raising a little hell and possibly having to kidnap and kill a couple of women, he'd be able to live out his Mexican retirement for a long, long time.

The feds took care of that, and it took all of Rockmond's advance money and skills and some luck to keep one step ahead. Still, the FBI was on his trail, and he finally decided that Mark Dugan's time was up.

On a Sunday morning, Mark Dugan made as sure of his demise as he possibly could. He walked away from the Charles River, cold and wet, firmly settled into his Dennis Rockmond identity.

Rockmond made connections, wined and dined Boston's elite, while secretly looking for opportunities to work out his mommy issues. The success and his off-hours work couldn't mask the pain and pointlessness he felt - nor did it overcome his growing desire to end it all.

The night before the incident in the cab, he once again 'worked through his issues' with some whore in Foxborough. He underestimated the amount of inderal he accidentially ingested after she switched their drinks; she caught onto him, and later he realized the adrenaline from attacking and killing her may have kept him from succumbing in his apartment.

Rockmond remembered feeling queasy after telling the driver to take him to Logan, then regaining consciousness - barely - in that morgue, with the medical examiner looking at him.

He fully remembered the incident after coming to in the hospital, and quickly matched the M.E. with the job that nearly got him caught by the feds.

She - Dr. Maura Isles - was one of the women that the man who hired Mark Dugan was looking to kidnap, and kill.

She was one of the reasons Mark Dugan had to go away, and Dennis Rockmond constantly looked for the feds to catch up with him.

He wondered if she might have recognized him as one of the men involved in the Boston terrorist attacks last year. He wondered if she had taken his photo and fingerprints and sent them on to the feds.

Whatever thoughts Rockmond had of offing himself, of giving into his occasional moments of suicide, ending his internal pain, went away when he woke up in Dr. Isles' morgue.

Rockmond had a new mission. He would keep getting rid of the whores until he found the one who brought him into this miserable world, and he would also find and get rid of the four people who could effectively end his life.

To accomplish this would mean he'd have to lure the NCIS agents out of D.C., to Boston: he had no chance of taking care of them on their home turf. So he'd lure them to Boston - which he did, successfully - and now that they were in his backyard, Rockmond was confident he'd be able to take them out just as he was of taking out Rizzoli and Isles.

His reward wouldn't be Ari's money, but peace of mind.

**Boston Police Department, Division One headquarters**  
**Division One Cafe**

Officer Frankie Rizzoli walked in as he had a thousand times before, and groaned when he saw Stanley, not his Ma, at the counter.

"What?" Stanley grumbled. "You gonna stand there all day?"

"Gimme a large soda," Frankie replied, not in the mood to argue with Ma's boss. He paid Stanley for the soda, then sat down at table near the counter. He looked out towards the lobby, and saw Gibbs.

The NCIS agent made eye contact, nodded towards the street, then walked away, toward the elevator.

Frankie realized he had been made. And groaned. If he couldn't even hide in a squad car without being made, how was he ever going to become a detective?

He was oblivious to Susie Chang walking in to the cafe, and didn't notice her standing in front of him until she repeated herself.

"Excuse me, Officer Rizzoli?"

"Oh..oh! I'm sorry," Frankie said to Susie. "Please, have a seat."

Susie sat down. "Can I get you a soda, or some coffee?" Susie shook her head. "Is there something I can do for you?"

She looked out towards the lobby, then around the cafe, then at Frankie. "Officer, you're Detective Rizzoli's brother, and Dr. Isles' future brother-in-law."

"Uh..yeah, last time I checked, I was still Jane's brother," Frankie said, smiling. "And if they ever set a date, Maura'll be my sister...what's up?"

Susie looked out to the lobby, again.

"It's regarding those agents," she said, her voice at a half-whisper.

"The NCIS guys - or guy and that girl who looks like Maura?" Susie nodded. "What's going on...you hear something?"

Susie told Frankie about eavesdropping on Kate Todd looking at the bodies of the Venus de Milo victims in Maura's morgue, and what she thought she heard Kate say to herself.

It matched what Frankie overheard Gibbs say outside the building.

"You worried about them, Susie?" Frankie asked her. "Jane vouches for them both, and I met the guy. I think they're on the up and up-"

"It's Dr. Isles, and your sister Jane," Susie admitted. "I don't want whatever is going on with these people to affect them."

"You're worried. About Maura and Jane."

"Yeah."

"Don't be. Whatever that is, it sounds like a personal thing, and I know that guy isn't one to let his personal life wreck havoc on an investigation-"

"But shouldn't our people be aware of it?" Susie said, this time more direct and insistent than Frankie knew the usually soft-spoken woman to be. "I feel the need to inform Dr. Isles; I don't like eavesdropping on strangers, but if it could adversely affect the people we work with, I think someone should know...don't you?"

Frankie took a deep breath, and glanced at his watch: his break was close to being over.

"Look, let's not jump to any conclusions, okay?" Frankie said. "Let's keep an eye on these people and see what-"

"I think you should inform your sister and Lt. Cavanaugh," Susie replied, getting out of her seat. "I am going to inform Dr. Isles."

With that, Susie scurried out of the cafe, presumably towards the morgue or Maura's office.

"Hey Rizzoli!" yelled Frankie's boss, Sergeant Payne. "Break's over. Stop lollygagging around - let's go!"

Frankie jumped up, threw his soda into the nearest trash can, and went back to work; he hoped he'd be able to find Jane - or at least Korsak or Frost - before Susie found Maura.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Boston**

**Homicide, BPD Division One HQ**

Cavanaugh walked out of his office, Gibbs and Kate alongside him, and yelled to everyone in the room to get their attention.

Cavanaugh and Gibbs reviewed the case: all of the victims were women, all but one in their 20s or early 30s, with "Cruella" - who was much older - the exception. The first round of killings took place along the East Coast down to Florida, with the second round in Washington and in Boston.

The victims were either Naval/Marine personnel or prostitutes, all encased in plaster and all painted in bronze. The body types were all identical, and the faces on the plaster are exactly alike; Gibbs' team is working on the assumption the killer is using a cast.

The Naval and Marine personnel amongst the victims were all found in public, high-traffic spots, easily found by local citizens and law enforcement. The prostitutes were also found in public spots intended for use by children.

"Why NCIS," asked Detective Woody Hoyt. "Why not FBI? They have a team that finds creeps like this."

"My choice," Cavanaugh said. "That FBI team you're talking about investigates cases at the invitational of local agencies. There's already a team of federal agents" - nodding to Gibbs - "investigating this case."

"We wanted first crack at finding the killer, since some of his victims are Naval and Marine personnel," Gibbs replied. "I have contacts at the FBI and I was able to convince them to hold off while we conducted our investigation."

Jane made brief eye contact at Kate and mouthed 'what really happened?'

'Later' Kate mouthed back.

What 'happened' was Gibbs called his friend, FBI Senior Agent Tobias Fornell, and told him to "keep Hotchner and BAU out of this till I'm done."

The debriefing concluded with Gibbs stating that he and Kate would stay and work with Homicide in finding the killer.

He didn't say how long.

For all Kate and Jane knew, Gibbs might decide to stay up there forever, if that's how long it took to find the killer.

**Division One Cafe**

"They're worried about _Gibbs_ and _Caitlin_?"

Maura sat in the corner table, across from Jane, her mouth agape.

"Yes, Maur. My officer brother and your head assistant are convinced that something 'hinky' is going on between Gibbs and Kate and that somehow it's gonna blow up the world."

"Jane, I'm confident we both can agree their heightened level of concern is unwarranted, yes?"

"Yes..._yeah_. But they think those two are sleeping together and Gibbs is up here to take over and take control of our lives like..._that's_ what this is about."

Maura knew what Jane was about to say. "Yes. That _has_ to be their concern. _Us_."

"They're both worried Gibbs is gonna take us away and take over our lives like last year...which _he_ didn't, and as far as we and anybody else knows this creep is no threat to us."

"Jane, I'll talk with Susie when I return to the lab...don't be too hard on Frankie. They both mean well."

Jane reached out and grasped Maura's hands. "I know, sweetie...but Frankie's a _guy_. It's not gonna bother him if I _yell_ at him a little bit."

Maura chuckled, and smiled; Jane loved see that look in her love's eyes, and that smile.

"Love you," Jane said, reaching over and planting a quick kiss on Maura's lips.

"Mmm," Maura purred, unable to break the kiss, staring into Jane's deep brown eyes while her heart quivered just a bit.

Their moment was shattered by a surprise visitor...one very unwelcome to Jane.

"Ladies?" said Dennis Rockmond, holding a book. "I'm very sorry to interrupt and I didn't mean to eavesdrop...but I thought you both would be here and I wanted to say hello."

Maura, caught off guard, was polite in her reply: "That's quite alright, Mr. Rockmond...please, sit down."

Jane wasn't so polite.

"No," she said curtly. "Mr. Rockhead can stand up...Maura and I were about to leave."

'Rockhead', after having his life saved by Maura's quick thinking three months ago in the morgue, called her again, and again, and again to set up a date. Jane quickly put her foot down, told Rockmond she and Maura were a couple, and not to bother them again or else. 'Rockhead', she told Frost and Korsak, simply said 'okay' and hung up.

Maura seemed to have forgotten about the man fairly quickly. Jane hadn't, and had Rockmond, along with a few other men, on her mental list of _'creeps to kick in the ass and throw in the slammer should they ever appear in our lives again and hit on Maura or worse'_.

"Three months, and you couldn't even _bother_ with an apology?" Jane finally said, standing face to face with the man.

"You're right," Rockmond replied. "I should have apologized instead of walking away - I thought apologizing would have made things worse-"

"If it was sincere, it wouldn't have," Jane shot back.

"Jane," Maura said, putting her hand on Jane's forearm.

"I'm here to apologize now," Rockmond continued. "I misjudged your relationship and I was inappropriate in how I acted. I understand now you two are a couple, which I fully respect and appreciate, and I ask your forgiveness for how I acted before and hope I can somehow make it up to you."

"Alright," said Jane, who didn't move to shake Rockmond's hand as he held it out for her and Maura.

Maura did return the gesture, with a polite smile - and an '_are you kidding me_?' glare from Jane. "We accept your apology," Maura said. "It was thoughtful of you to come by and do so."

"Thank you, ladies," Rockmond said to the couple. "As another gesture of my regret over my actions, and as a token of my appreciation for your kind response, I'd like to give you a copy of my book and offer an invitation to an appearance I'm making this evening."

Rockmond handed the book to Jane.

"'_Release Your Inner Winner and Win_'." Jane said, in a monotone voice.

"It's a _New York Times_ best seller," he replied - speaking to Maura. "Number seven, second week on the list." He then pulled out a business card, with the address of the bookstore written on the back, handing it to Maura and maintaining eye contact. "Here, this is my card, and it would be my honor to have you both in attendance."

"It's...such short notice...but thank you for the invitation," Maura said, very politely and - to Jane - a bit unnerved.

"We have _other_ plans," Jane interjected, strongly, grasping Maura's free hand and drawing her close, side-by-side, glaring at Rockmond.

"I..see," he finally said, smiling, before stepping backwards. "Well, if you decide to change your minds, I'll have your names on a list at the bookstore. Tell the manager who you are and they'll bring you right to the front row...and thank you for seeing me, and perhaps we'll see each other around."

Rockmond nodded, and walked away, and out of the cafe; as he passed through the door, he saw Gibbs and Kate coming in, nodded, and went on his way.

"Maura, you accepted that guy's _apology_?" Jane said, flustered. "Should've let me _handle_ it!"

"Jane, it was the right thing to do," Maura said. "Not accepting his apology does nothing to better the situation, and only makes one look worse-"

"That's guy's a creep! We got enough dealing with this serial killer, and now this creep comes around," Jane continued. "You let me handle it, I would've gotten rid of him. Notice how he was looking at you?"

"He wasn't looking at me, Jane-"

"_BullSHIT_, Maura! He was totally trying to get you on his side while he was babbling out his crap-"

Jane's mom, Angela was behind the counter, and thankful that almost no one else was around. Then she saw the two NCIS agents walking towards her, and blushed.

"How can I help you?" she asked, hoping they hadn't noticed the exchange.

"Coffee. Large, black, no cream, no sugar," he said, handing Angela a $10.

"Same, except leave room for cream," Kate replied, glancing back at Jane and Maura's animated conversation, then noticing Angela's anguished look. "Everything alright, Ms. Rizzoli?"

"Yes, it's fine, I'm fine," she replied, looking back at Jane and Maura, now engaged in a staring contest. "No...no I'm not."

"They're fighting?" Kate asked.

"I think they _are_," Angela replied, and recapped seeing Rockmond walk in and talk with Jane and Maura. "I couldn't overhear the conversation, but I could tell Jane was upset and Maura, she was trying to be polite - she's always polite - and now I'm afraid I'm seeing them fight."

Gibbs glanced over to the couple; Maura seemed to be getting the upper hand, judging by her smile and Jane's pout.

"I can tell you about fights, Ms. Rizzoli, and that's no fight," he said. "They'll be fine."

"Good," Angela replied, handing both their coffees. "Are you married, Mr. Gibbs?"

Kate did a double take. _Was Angela Rizzoli-?_

"You can call me Gibbs," he replied, sipping his coffee. "Was married...three ex-wives."

"I see," Angela replied, noticing Jane's mouth flying open at seeing Gibbs and Kate, and her mouthing 'did they see all of that?' at Maura. "Agent Todd-"

"Feel free to call me Kate, Ms. Rizzoli," she replied.

"Then I insist you both call me Angela," Angela continued. "Kate. Is there someone in your life?"

Before Kate could respond, Jane ran over and stopped between Kate and Gibbs, and stared at her mother.

"_Ma_!"

"_What_ Jane? I'm just asking _questions_. Getting to know your friends a little _more_. What did that man _say_ to you?"

As Jane recapped her and Maura's conversation with 'Rockhead', Kate decided that Jane must have gotten her detective skills from her mother's side of the family - Angela was definitely one to snoop and keep tabs on things and people she thought might affect those she cared about.

Kate then realized that included her and Gibbs.

"Jane, if you want, I'll go there and tell this guy to leave you alone," Gibbs said.

"Thanks, Gibbs," Jane said. "But if it gets that bad where I can't handle 'Mr. Inner Winner', then Frankie and Frost and Korsak and Tommy'll line up and knock some sense into him."

Everyone laughed, and Angela spoke up. "You won't have time to go there _anyway_, Gibbs," she told him. "I'm making dinner tonight at Maura's, and I'm inviting you and Kate to be my guests."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Northeast Airways Shuttle Flight 089**  
**flying over the New York-Pennsylvania state border**

Ziva David looked out the side window, onto the rural New York countryside, lost in thought.

A year ago she was burning up in a hut somewhere in Somalia, helping her brother track down a woman in Idaho whose misfortune was to look like agent Caitlin Todd.

The pressure she was under - to be Ari's second while secretly subverting his actions and passing on intel to Mossad and the FBI and CIA - was extraordinary.

She weathered the pressure, but was finally made and had to be extracted, weeks before firing the fatal shot that ended her brother's reign of terror.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ziva?" asked her seat mate, Tony DiNozzo. Ducky Mallard and Tim McGee sat in the twin seats opposite them in the middle section of the commuter jet taking them to Dulles International.

"My thoughts?"

_Perhaps he means how difficult it has been to become an accepted part of the team. The incident. The attempted assault during the director's team-building exercise, and I working with Agent Todd and Abby to apprehend the...misfit. The director's awards ceremony, trying to make me feel better, as if that was even necessary._

"I...I am _fine_, Tony," Ziva said abruptly, then realizing her tone, before turning to look at DiNozzo. "Thank you for your concern," she said more softly.

"If it's the team," Tony replied, "you've come a long way. Hell, for me, this was nothing but a job my first couple of years. It's taken a while for me to see this team as, you know, like family."

"Family." _Ari. Tali. Mama. Abba._

"Yeah, family," Tony continued. "No siblings. My mom...died...and my dad's off doing his own thing. Everybody on the team, grown on me, including you, the siblings, Ducky the grandpa, and Gibbs the uncle I never had...maybe _that's_ what Jenny had in mind."

"Jenny?"

"When she did whatever she did to get you here. She gave you a chance to start over, with people you could get close to, doing something different...give it time. Relationships, friendships don't happen overnight. They come with growing pains that you work through. Keep at it, Ziva."

Ziva was silent for several seconds. "Family," she finally said. "What about Gibbs breaking Rule 12?"

"What about it?"

"What would _that_ do to your, our, little 'family'?"

Now Tony was speechless.

"Do you have issues with this, Tony? Or not?"

"Well...maybe," Tony replied, with a gleam in his eye. "Maybe not. Agency doesn't have that rule, just Gibbs. Besides. Maybe the old man saw what Rizzles had and got envious - or maybe he learned that redheads weren't working out for him-"

"Tony!"

"-and Kate has said she wants to have a baby," Tony continued. "Wonder how many _Kibblets_ she can pop out before the old man wears down-"

"_Tony_! _You_ were the one raising concerns in that cafe and now you are making jokes about the matter."

Tony looked at Ziva. "_Someone_ had to," he said. "Everyone is thinking it, especially the director...besides. I wanted to say 'Kibblets'. Who's thinking about _that_? You know, first thing when we get back, I'm having McSnoring over there pull up that program. I wanna see just what a litter of Kibblets would look like-"

Ziva rolled her eyes, wondering what kind of 'family' she had found herself a part of.

And if a relationship between its head and one of his agents would bring it closer or tear it apart.

**Boston**  
**BPD Division One HQ, Homicide squadroom**

Korsak and Frost were at their desks tracking leads on the Venus de Milo killer.

"I'll call the detective in St. Petersburg and follow up with her," Frost said.

"And I'll call St. Louis," Korsak replied. "That's the only case not in an Eastern Seaboard city...otherwise, it's identical to every other case, down to the face mask."

"And like all the other cases, it went cold," Frost replied.

"Let me know if you find out anything out of the ordinary from St. Petersburg," Korsak said. "And don't forget to inform Agent Gibbs, even if it's nothing new."

"Guy's probably already talked to them," Frost replied, calling up a file on his desktop. "That's what Jane said. Everytime she was on one of his cases she'd go to tell him about it and he already knew. She never could figure that out."

"Then we should just ask _him_ who the killer is," Korsak quipped.

"He'd say that's _our_ job - according to what Jane told me," Frost said. "Speaking of Gibbs-"

"Is this about he and agent Todd?" Korsak whispered.

"_NO_," Frost replied, in a loud stage-whispered, then spoke normally. "But, they _did_ remind me of something else. Come over and look."

Frost called up a file, comparing Kate Todd's NCIS ID with that of one of her sisters, and with Maura's medical examiner's ID.

"Kate on the left, Maura on the right," Frost said, in a low voice. "Kate has three brothers and two sisters, one of which we see in the middle."

"A twin," Korsak followed.

"Julie Todd," Frost continued. "NCIS Special Agent. Worked as a detective in Los Angeles, before joining NCIS. Official status is classified - Jane says she works in special operations. Undercover work."

"If you didn't know any of them, you might assume they're triplets, or family," Korsak said. "Where are the Todds from again?"

"Indianapolis. Maura of course is from Boston. But she's also adopted-"

"By the Isles family. Paddy Doyle is her real father, and Dr. Hope Martin is her birth mother. We found that out after Haswari was killed."

"But Korsak. If you look at the Todd sisters and compare them to Maura, other than the age difference you see no reason to assume they're not related."

Korsak looked at the photos, then at Frost. "You're saying that Dr. Isles might be related to the Todds? Didn't we have that conversation a year ago?"

"We had a conversation about the fact that Haswari targeted numerous women who resembled Kate Todd, including Maura," Frost clarified. "Jane said they considered the possibility but tests were inconclusive...what if they didn't conduct a test? Or falsified the results?"

"You're saying they lied about not doing a test or lied about the results?" Korsak said. "Are you suggesting Dr. Isles might be their sister?"

"I think we have to look into the possibility," Frost said, "especially since one of the sisters are here, right now."

"Well, good luck in getting either one of them and _especially_ agent _Gibbs_ to sign off on it," Korsak concluded. "We have other matters to worry about anyway - like calling St. Louis and St. Petersburg."

**McGuillicutty's bookstore, ten blocks from the BPD Division One building**

Dennis Rockmond got out of his Corvette - one of several sports and luxury automobiles he owned - and walked towards the side entrance of the bookstore building, generally used for VIPs and guest authors.

Rockmond liked to keep his mind strictly on business when on the job, but couldn't help but reflect on his 'conversation' with Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles - and on seeing Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Kate Todd as he left the cafe.

None of them would be likely to show up for his book signing, but he'd have plenty of time to reflect on them afterwards, while creating his latest piece back at his apartment.

They'd even get to see it first hand in the morning.

**BPD Div. One HQ, parking lot**

"You agreed to dinner with the Rizzolis?" Kate said to Gibbs, as they walked towards their rental cars.

"That surprise you, Kate?"

"...yeah. A little. Figured you'd eat coffee while tracking down this killer - and that I'd be right alongside you. Not the first time you ordered us not to eat until we found some creep."

"Not gonna starve, Kate," he replied. "You're invited, too - after you drop your bags off in Dr. Isles' guest room."

That surprised Kate.

"Gibbs?...I can't _impose_ on them...and I thought I was staying in the same hotel you were?"

_She looks a bit hurt,_ Gibbs thought. _Truth be told, I'd like her with me._

"It's for the _best_, Kate," Gibbs said. "I get the hotel three blocks from the police building. You get to stay with Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles. Agency gets to save money-"

"They're not reimbursing her, Gibbs?"

"Dr. Isles's idea. She's _waiting_ for you...agency will reimburse her for the wireless connection to Washington which you'll use to contact Abby and DiNozzo and me when you're at Dr. Isles' house."

"So we're still working 24/7."

"The bastard who's murdering these women is out there 24/7, Kate," Gibbs followed, "and we'll be, too, until we find him...now see you at the house."

Gibbs got in his car, and pulled out of the lot, leaving Kate behind.

She really wanted some alone time with him.

_Was this his way of telling me things were going too fast?_ thought Kate, as she locked her doors and looked around before pulling out of her parking space. _No. This is Jenny. She suspects something is up._

"Maybe I should ask _her_, since she acts like she knows every damn thing that's going on with the team," Kate muttered to herself. "And _I'm_ not totally sure what's up between...me and Gibbs."

Gibbs, driving in his car to the nearby hotel, called director Sheppard, and debriefed her.

"Good thinking Jethro," Jenny chided him, "by _following orders_ this time. We WILL reimburse Dr. Isles for her time and trouble, by the way...and I absolutely don't have to worry about you and Caitlin being together."

"Won't have to worry about it regardless, Jen," Gibbs shot back.

"Actually, Jethro, I _do_. Especially considering how important it is to solve this case. She's _there_ and you're at the _hotel_. Are you going to deny her all three meals and make her mainline caffeine until you find this bastard?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Not gonna go _that_ far, Jen. Besides. We're having dinner tonight, with the Rizzolis."

"Dinner-_dinner_. With the _Rizzolis_."

"Not _alone_, Jen."

"Good. I hope you _enjoy_ it," Jenny replied. "For _this_ case, I'm holding you to Rule 12. Once it's solved and you two return, the three of us will talk about it..."

As the director continued talking, Gibbs smiled to himself. He wasn't even going to come close to touching Kate here in Boston.

The old Gibbs wouldn't have tolerated it. That Gibbs had reasserted himself, pushing the other Gibbs - the one who dared to consider breaking Rule 12 with his own agent - to the background.

What happened after the killer was found, in regards to Kibbs and Rule 12, was anybody's guess.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Boston**  
**Maura Isles' residence**

"I apologize," said Maura Isles, after walking Kate Todd into her guest room.

"Apologize for _what_?" Kate said, surprised at Maura's apology: the room looked immaculate. "Everything looks just fine."

Maura relaxed, as she saw Kate's reaction. "I didn't have any time to check the room myself before you arrived," Maura explained, as Kate put her bags down next to the bed. "After your director asked me to provide a place for you to stay, I was anxious about finding a maid to clean the room - and fortunate that my service was able to provide someone on such short notice."

Kate scanned the room, briefly noting the decor of the furniture, and decorative paintings and sculpture.

"I went with a late 18th-century motif," Maura said. "The painting above the computer is one by William Bradford Copley, not to be confused with the contemporary 20th century artist William Copley."

"Er...of course not," Kate replied; she herself had a passing knowledge of American painters. _This is like Tony gushing about that post-World War II Japanese movie. What was it? Seven Soldiers? _

"...seven samurais?" Kate mumbled, lost in thought.

"Pardon me?" Maura replied.

"Oh...oh, sorry," Kate said. "My mind...wandered momentarily. I was thinking that...I've never heard of this artist...and it was like when Tony told me about this movie he saw."

"Oh," Maura said, pausing for a moment. "Was it _Seven Samurai_?"

"Yeah...Tony said it was by a legendary director whose name I totally forgot-"

"Akira Kurosawa," Maura said. "Seven Samurai, from 1954, a period piece set in the late 14th century...Kurosawa is an amazing, legendary director. In fact...I may have the DVD downstairs if you would like to watch it?"

"I don't want to impose, Maura, any more than I already have-"

"You aren't imposing, Caitlin. It's my pleasure and honor to have you as my guest."

"...well thank you," Kate said. "Perhaps we can watch it, after dinner, and after I get settled in and check with Tony back in Washington."

Kate looked at the very modern computer sitting on top of an equally modern desk, and turned to Maura. "I'm guessing that wasn't part of the 'motif'."

Maura chuckled. "No," she replied. "That is what I am told is a 'loaner' from the FBI, according to your brother."

Kate took a few moments to reflect, then smacked her forehead. "Oh my god. Danny. I _forgot_ he worked here!...how could I have forgotten that?"

Danny being Daniel Todd, the head of the FBI's field office in Boston, and the middle of Kate's three brothers.

"Relax," Maura said to Kate. "He said he 'figured' you would, with Gibbs running you all over town, and he didn't want to bother you so soon in the investigation. He said you could, and should, call him tonight, after dinner - and that you and Gibbs were invited for dinner at his place tomorrow evening."

"Well...thank you," Kate told Maura, then looked at the clock in the room. "He's probably about to sit down for dinner with Jessica and Wesley-do you mind if I call him real quick?"

"Not at all," Maura said, and Kate pulled out her cell phone. "That will give me an opportunity to help Angela finish preparing our own dinner."

**Maura's dining room**

Angela took on the responsibility of preparing dinner - although Maura insisted on helping and recruited Jane to assist - and kept things simple.

The main course was lasagna, both meat and vegetarian, with Italian bread; an antipasto plate; green salad, with a choice between four creamy and three oily dressings handpicked by Angela herself; red wine; beer (for Jane); and a dessert of Boston cream cheesecake or fresh berries and cannoli cream.

On one side of the dinner table, Maura and Kate broke the ice by discussing the meal, with Angela eagerly joining in from her seat at the head of the table.

The others weren't talking.

Jane - sitting next to Maura - and the men on the opposite side of the table - Tommy and Frankie Rizzoli - wolfed down their lasagna.

Gibbs, sitting next to Angela and across from Kate, listened politely as he ate his dinner.

"We've dominated the conversation long enough," Angela decided, looking at Gibbs, then her own children - Frankie, Tommy, Jane and Maura (whom she considered as much her daughter as Jane) - then at Kate. "Gibbs, what type of restaurants do you visit in Washington?"

"Restaurants?" Gibbs replied.

"Yes. There must be an amazing variety of restaurants in Washington with such international flavor-"

Jane stifled a laugh; Maura elbowed her in her side, lightly, but enough to get a reaction.

"_Ow_!" she said to Maura. "What was _that_ for?"

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli!" Angela loudly exclaimed, even as Tommy and Frankie tried to supress their own chuckles.

"Want me to head-slap them, Angela?" Gibbs said; Kate thought he might not be joking.

"_Ma_! _Gibbs_!" Jane said; Tommy went wide-eyed, and Frankie shook his head vigoriously.

Kate mouthed 'you're not actually going to do that?'

Gibbs chuckled, then told Angela about some of the five-star restaurants in the area he had taken dates on in the past.

"More often than not, I've kept it pretty simple," Gibbs continued. "Job itself keeps me too busy most of the time to dine out."

"We work a lot of nights and so we order carry-out," Kate explained. "Sometimes pizza, most of the time Chinese."

"When I'm not at work, I'm at home, eating from that shopping list Kate set up for me, and some easy-to-make foods," Gibbs said.

"Cowboy steaks," Jane interjected. "Take a rib-eye. Put it in the fireplace, wait till it's done, then eat."

"Extremely unsanitary," Maura added; Kate knew that Jane and Maura - and Kate herself - could gently rib the ex-Marine in ways almost no one else could.

"And delicious," Jane followed. "And necessary. You and Kate cooked that tofu stuff on the oven. Maura wouldn't even let me cook a hamburger on the skillet-"

"That isn't true," Maura protested. "I did allow you to cook a hamburger on the stove..._once_ in a while."

"_Most_ _of_ the while," Jane shot back, playfully. "_Most_ of the while you two ate seaweed and carrots. Gibbs asked me one night if I wanted a steak - I saw him sitting next to the fireplace, holding a hunk of meat in it. He gave me a stick, stuck another hunk of meat on it, told me to put it in there and let it sit. We did that a lot."

"It _did_ solve the problem of fixing dinner," Kate added, "especially when the FBI was leery of letting us order pizza."

That comment brought to mind the worse part of Jane and Maura's near-year-long exile in Washington, and nearly everyone's countenance went from laughter to sadness.

"Won't have to worry about the bastard anymore," Gibbs said, quietly - referencing the terrorist, Ari Haswari, who made that exile necessary and affected hundreds of lives in the process.

Moments later, Angela decided to change the topic.

"Don't _let_ your dinner get _cold_!" she chided everyone else. "Gibbs, Kate. You know more about detectives Frost and Korsak and Lt. Cavanaugh than we do about your _NCIS_ team. I'd _like_ to hear about _them_..."

As everyone finished dinner and dessert, Gibbs and Kate - and Jane and Maura - filled in Angela, Tommy and Frankie in about the men and women working down in Washington.

**Washington**  
**Navy Yard**

Agent Balboa was assigned by Director Jenny Shepard to pick up the NCIS team at Reagan Airport and take them to the Navy Yard. Based on his phone conversation with the director after disembarking, Tony expected a quick debrief before everyone went home for the night.

The foursome - and Balboa - ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant between Reagan and NCIS headquarters; Balboa dropped them off at the Navy Yard, heading home himself. Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky entered the building - heading home himself - and Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky headed up the elevator, in a jovial mood.

It evaporated when they saw Jenny and Abby standing in the bullpen, both downcast.

"Director?" Tony said.

"Director, has something happened?" Ducky asked. "Are Jethro and Caitlin all right?"

"We lost one of our agents today," Jenny stated. "Special Operations in Los Angeles. Dominic Vail."

Dominic "Dom" Vail's picture was on both screens in the bullpen.

"Julie was _hurt_ trying to save Dom," Abby said.

"Kate's sister," Ziva stated.

"How badly?" said McGee.

"Juliana is receiving emergency care," Jenny answered. "Agent Vail was killed in the line, saving the life of Agent Sam Hanna. That's all we know so far. Henrietta Lange informed me just a few minutes ago."

"Anything to do with Boston?" Tony asked.

"Fully separate," Jenny said. "I'll contact Agent Gibbs, and Agent Todd, then we'll debrief about the Venus de Milo case."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**  
**Los Angeles**  
**University of Los Angeles Medical Center**

"Kate, I'm _fine_!" yelled the young woman into her phone, from her heavily guarded hospital room.

Special Agent Julie Todd was trying to figure out a way to sneak out of the room - via the window, the ceiling, or splitting through the Marines in the doorway - and make her escape. To do that, she had to cut loose her IV and a dozen wires; get past special agent Kensi Blye and LAPD liaison Marty Deeks; and get off the danged phone with her overworried twin sister.

"It's a flesh wound, Katie!" Julie said. "Just on my arm-_OWWWWW_!" Julie twisted her hips the wrong way, and she felt the wound from the bullet that grazed her hip, then cussed up a storm.

"You're _cursing_ again," Kate said, from her guest room in Boston, as her hosts and her boss sat with her. "You need to stay in that room until they release you."

Kensi and Deeks, the Marines and anyone near the door heard both sides of the conversation on the speakerphone.

"I'm _fine_," Julie protested, as much to her two team members from the Office of Special Projects L.A. office as her sister on the phone. "I need to be out there, with Callen and Sam."

"You need to stay and recover so you can _help_ us," Kensi shot back, with an edge unlike anything Julie had seen from the junior agent. "We already lost one agent. I'm not losing another...now SIT."

"I'm _senior_ over you," Julie snapped in return, and the two women glared at one another.

"Uh...Julie's twin? You have any idea about how to stop a catfight?" Deeks blurted.

"There won't be any _catfight_, Mr. Deeks," said the diminuitive operations manager of the L.A. team, Henrietta Lange, who had just walked into the room. "Nor will there be a _glare_-off - and, Ms. Todd, _you_ will stay here and recover until you are fully ready."

"Hetty!" Julie said, surprised at her unexpected appearance. "I thought-"

"That I was in my office? Or that you would get past an agent, a detective and two Marines in your condition?" Hetty replied. "I - we - need you here, recovering. _Especially_ since we lost Dom this afternoon. While your injuries are not bad they are not insignificant, and you need to recover. Which you will."

Julie slumped in her bed, dejected.

"When you get outta here - _when_ - we're going to find his killers," Kensi said, reassuring her.

"You _better_ stay, Julie," said the voice of Kate Todd from the speakerphone. "Or I'll fly out there and shoot you myself."

"Can't do that, Kate. We've got a case." The voice of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who once nearly hired Julie after firing Kate's predecessor.

"I'll fly shuteye," Kate quipped. "Shoot her in the _ass_. Then catch a flight back here."

"Then I would have to arrest you, Ms. Caitlin...or keep you _here_," Hetty said.

"Was that a joke?" Kensi asked, before catching Hetty's glare. "-never mind."

"Jethro, thank you for your condolescences," Hetty continued. "It is always difficult to lose a member of your team or a fellow agent, something you sadly know all too well with Christopher."

"We got justice for Pacci, Hetty," Jethro said. "You'll do the same for Vail."

"We will be pursuing Dominic's killers as we pursue a potential lead on your present case," Hetty told him, to everyone's surprise. "We may have found a person of interest for you and Boston police to follow up with."

**Boston**  
**Maura Isles' home**

"I can only imagine what that team is like," Jane said to Maura, outside Kate's guest room. "Undercover Navy cops, travel the world, find the bad guys and bring them in."

"I'd like to travel the world," Maura gushed, "and we could be undercover. You'd be Jane Bond, and I'd be your companion, your damsel in distress that you save from the big, bad nasty brutish Russian spy."

"That sounds like a TV show," Jane said. "No. We'd be undercover in Paris, chilling out. You'd be Dr. Snob, I'd be Dr. Poindexter, we'd visit the _Louvre_ and climb the Eiffel Tower-"

"Doesn't quite work that way, Rizzoli," Gibbs said, stepping out of the room while Kate wrapped up her phone call.

"Then how _does_ it work, Gibbs? James Bond? Long stakeouts? Shootouts through the streets? Paperwork?"

"Yep," he answered, as Kate joined the conversation.

"Caitlin," Maura said to her. "The next time Jane and I come down to Washington, and visit with you and Abigail and Ziva, you should invite your sisters. I'd love to compare notes with Rachel on psychology, and your twin sister seems like an intriguing woman."

"She's a lot of things," Kate replied. "A little like me, a little like Rachel, a little like Danny, Roger and Chuck, a little like mom and dad, and a little like Tony."

"_Tony_?" Jane said. "You mean she's a great agent which almost makes up for her being very loud, constantly jabbers, always in your business, aggravating to no end? Maur. Maybe we should invite _Tony_ in _drag_ to our next little get-together."

Gibbs chuckled.

"_No_," Kate answered. "More like she liked to party and loved Spring Break...and _still_ does..."

"And she's alive," Maura said, placing a reassuring hand on Kate's arm.

"Get some rest, Kate," Gibbs said. "We have a killer of our own to hunt down."

"Thank you for coming, Gibbs," Maura said.

"I'll go with him to the door," Jane added. "You two can plan our next get together."

Downstairs, Jane was relieved her mother was nowhere around and probably in the guest house; Jane really wanted to touch base with Gibbs before he left for his motel room.

"You think this Venus de Milo killer's connected to the terrorists who killed your agent?" Jane said.

"Hetty said there was a guy arrested in Baltimore," Gibbs said. "Tony's gonna follow up on that. Hetty sent me an email. One of the terrorists who got killed while the L.A. team tried to rescue Vail. Guy worked with Ari."

"God," Jane swore. "Out _there_?"

"His Los Angeles cell," Gibbs said. "Guy was shot dead while Julie's team tried to find their teammate. Julie's partner did the honors; Deeks shot him after he shot Julie in the arm."

"Can't imagine losing someone when they were right under your nose for months," Jane said. "Your Los Angeles team must be torn up...I'm so sorry."

"Hope that's as far as the connection goes, Rizzoli," Gibbs replied. "I'm going to contact Kate and Julie's brother here in town, and Fornell in Washington, see what the FBI knows. Then I'll tell Cavanaugh, you and your team."

"Thanks," Jane said, opening the door for Gibbs. "Get some rest."

"Have to settle for sleep. My boat's back in Washington," he quipped.

**Boston, a few hours later**  
**Jamaica Plain**

A U-Haul pulled up to the freezer; the driver stepped out of the vehicle, opened the back door and pulled out a dolly.

He went inside. A minute later, he pushed a statue out the door, into the truck, then pulled out another dolly. A couple of minutes later, the driver pushed out another statue and put it in the truck. He locked the door to the freezer, then secured the statues, jumped in his truck and went on his way.

He made two stops enroute to his destination, making sure he had his laser pointer with him at both sites.

Joe Schmo arrived at his destination 30 minutes before sunrise, dropping off the U-Haul in the lot and its keys in the slot, then walked six blocks to a bus stop.

**Dawn**  
**Fenway**

Another Venus de Milo statue was spotted, next to a restaurant two blocks north of Fenway Park. When Detectives Hoyt and Framus arrived, they were forced to park next to the venerable baseball stadium, as television trucks and curious onlookers had the crime scene surrounded.

No one had yet noticed a similar statue at a children's amusement park - it didn't open until noon, and workers had yet to arrive for work - but it had been left on a carousel, 20 minutes after the other statue was dropped in between the restaurant and the adjacent upscale appliance store.

Once again, the Venus de Milo killer was on the loose.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Boston, Fenway Park**

Kate Todd parked behind a TV station van and hoped the Boston PD ID hanging from her rental's rearview mirror would keep her from getting a ticket.

She was much more concerned with getting to the crime scene on time - on Gibbs' schedule. Jane and Maura surely understood, having worked with the man for several months, how demanding he was of his agents.

Kate got out of her car and looked for where the commotion was. She only had to run two blocks to find the crime scene.

She ducked under the tape, set up 20 feet in each direction around the front of a bar and grill. The object of the crime scene - a Venus de Milo statue, bleeding from the left arm stump - was placed in front of the restaurant's sidewalk tables and life-sized posters of Ted Williams and Bobby Orr in its windows.

"Seen Gibbs?" Kate said, slightly out of breath after running to the scene.

"Sorry," replied Det. Woody Hoyt. "No sign of him-"

"Saw him as I walked here, Kate," said Jordan Cavanaugh, the state Assistant Medical Examiner. "He's over there talking to a witness."

"How long?" Kate sighed.

"Last minute, at least," Jordan said, apologetically.

"Thanks," Kate said, heading towards Gibbs and the witness.

Jordan and Hoyt exchanged a look.

"You hear the rumors?" Hoyt remarked.

"What rumors?" Jordan.

"Gibbs. Major league hardass."

"Oh," Jordan said, looking at the statue. "Maura and I talked about him. He's a good guy, Woody. And _definitely _a hardass...I thought you knew that?"

Hoyt shook his head. "No, but he looks the part. Hardass is the only rumor I buy into with them, not the other rumor going around the office."

"She and Gibbs together."

"Yeah," Hoyt said, seeing Kate join Gibbs in questioning the witness. "I don't buy them together at all."

Gibbs finished with the witness, a 36-year-old woman walking to work.

"How many people have you spoken with, Gibbs," Kate asked him. "Two? Ten?"

"Just one so far, Kate," Gibbs replied. "See who else may have seen that thing when it got here."

"There's probably a hundred people here, Gibbs," Kate complained; Gibbs pointed to his two o'clock, at a heavy-set, bearded man wearing a Red Sox jacket. "Start with him."

Kate rolled her eyes, heading towards Red Sox Guy as Gibbs headed to the statue.

"Detective. Doctor," he said to Hoyt and Jordan. "This statue the same as the others?"

"Identical," Jordan replied. "Only differences would be due to the individual in the statue - assuming there IS a body - height and measurements are identical to the other statues."

"Killer's looking for a body type," Gibbs commented. "Drip. From the stump. Looks fresh."

"Corpses don't bleed, Agent Gibbs," Jordan said. "Remember that we did find water dripping from the victims from the other statues."

"Red water," Hoyt added. "Blood-red water."

"Killer cut out a pocket in the cast below the stump," Gibbs said, looking at the statue. "Blood congeals pretty quickly after death. What they found dripping was water with red dye - just as you said, Detective."

"Symbolic?" Jordan asked. "Perhaps it's the killer's signature."

Gibbs took out his pocket knife to cut away a portion of the plaster, to verify there was a body underneath. While he carefully sliced into the plaster, he, Jordan and Hoyt heard a man in the background yelling.

_"VANILLA! VANILLA! VANILLA!" _

Hoyt was the first to understand what the man was shouting - and the first to recognize him.

"Crap," muttered Hoyt. "Rondo...what's _he_ doing here?"

"Rondo? Jane's C.I.?" Jordan commented, and Gibbs turned around.

'Rondo' - a.k.a. Raymond Washington, Det. Jane Rizzoli's criminal informant - made a beeline for Kate, who was talking with a bystander.

Woody took off at a sprint to intercept Rondo; Gibbs turned around, saw the commotion, and dropped his knife.

"Doc," he said to Jordan, heading towards Kate.

"I got it," Jordan said, mainly to herself, before picking up Gibbs' knife to finish cutting away the plaster.

Rondo got to Kate first, though by the time he got to her, he looked very confused.

"You're _not_ Vanilla," Rondo said to Kate, as Hoyt and Gibbs caught up to him.

"_Excuse _me?" Kate replied, indignantly, pulling out her weapon and pointing it at him. "Who _are _you?"

Gibbs held his palm out to stop her and calm her down.

"Rondo? What're you doing here?" Woody asked Rondo.

"You know him, Detective?" Kate said; then she recalled who the guy was - Jane spent one night discussing nothing but Rondo, his involvement in her cases, why he was her C.I.

"Let's back away from the crowd," Hoyt replied to Kate, before making eye contact with a uniformed officer. "Officer. Have these people back away another 20 feet. Media included."

"You're Jane Rizzoli's C.I., aren't you?" Gibbs asked Rondo.

"You know Vanilla?" Rondo asked.

"They _both _do," Hoyt said.

"Hey, Woody," Rondo replied. "Yeah, and I'm exclusive to Vanilla, though I can be called upon to help out her friends...waitaminute. You from D.C..."

"NCIS," Gibbs said, as he pulled out his badge and I.D., and Kate quickly followed his lead. "Agent Gibbs, and with me is Agent Todd."

"You _ARE_ the D.C. people," Rondo said. "Vanilla said you took _real_ good care of her and the Doc - the other Doc," glancing at Jordan, then at Kate. "And I'm sorry. I thought you might have been Vanilla-"

"Did you have something to tell Detective Rizzoli?" Kate asked Rondo.

"Yeah, Agent Todd, and Agent Gibbs," Rondo said. "Um...uh...I saw something...I'm trying to remember..."

Woody rolled his eyes, as Kate whispered in Gibbs' ear.

"Is he the informant Jane-"

"Yeah, Kate," Gibbs replied, as Rondo continued to stammer.

Finally, Woody had enough and pulled out a couple of twenty dollar bills; miraculously, Rondo's memory returned.

"You know, I did see something," he said, as Kate looked aghast. "Three hours ago. I was headed from the shelter on the other side of Fenway, to the Mission. They give free breakfast once a week - you gotta listen while they preach at you - and I saw a U-Haul pull up right there, where that statue is."

"How many people were there?" Gibbs.

"One, jumped out of the truck on the driver's side, opened the back, pulled it out on a dolly, dropped it off, put the dolly in the U-Haul, shut the door, jumped behind the wheel and took off," Rondo replied.

"What did he look like?" Kate.

"Uh...well...I'm kinda fuzzy on the details..." Rondo said; Kate looked at Gibbs.

To her surprise, instead of invoking some federal law or giving him one of his 'I'm gonna kill you if you don't stop b.s.-ing' looks, Gibbs pulled out another $20.

"I remember now," Rondo said. "Dressed in black, head to toe. I could tell he was a white guy, wearing a ski cap, sunglasses. And he pointed some kind of laser thing when he got out, before opening the U-Haul."

"Where?" Gibbs said, and Rondo pointed to the location of two security cameras attached to the restaurant, and one across the street over the front entrance of a bank.

"He's taking out cameras," Gibbs said. "Rondo. Would you give a description of this 'man in black' to Agent Todd? She's a sketch artist."

"Well..."

"Rondo. This bastard's not only killed prostitutes. He's killed Navy and Marine personnel. Women serving their country, going about their business," Gibbs said, appealing to Rondo's better angels. "Help us find this guy."

"Um..."

"Otherwise. Next thing I'm giving you, is a trip to the station. In handcuffs."

"Okay."

_That's the Gibbs I know,_ Kate thought, as she pulled her sketch pad and pencil from her backpack.

"Agent Gibbs," Hoyt said, as Gibbs walked a few steps, before stopping.

"Kate," Gibbs said. "Give Rondo another $20 for his trouble...your turn."

Rondo smiled at her. "You _do_ kind of look like Vanilla, from a distance. And up close, you're very beautiful," he said, sincerely, and pouring on the charm.

Kate was all business, especially after pulling a $20 out of her purse. "Let's start with body build," she said. "Slender? Stocky? Overweight?"

Hoyt looked over towards the statue, where Jordan was showing Gibbs an exposed portion of flesh on the body's right lower calf. He began to walk over to them, then decided to stay near Kate, in the remote event Rondo tried to pull something on her.

Then he texted Jane.

_NCIS AGENTS AT FENWAY; ANOTHER BODY FOUND._

Jane:

_I WAS AFRAID OF THAT. THINGS OK?_

Woody:

_FINE. RONDO'S HERE._

Moments later, Jane texted back:

_I WILL BE THERE IN TEN DO NOT MOVE DO NOT LET HIM GO_

"C'mon, Jane," Woody muttered to himself. "Rondo's not _THAT_ bad."

**Elsewhere in Boston**

The Venus de Milo Killer's other statue had just been discovered at the amusement park, and the park custodians were the first to see it, after noticing that the carousel was spinning.

Being that the Fenway statue was playing non-stop on one of the local news morning shows, the first call made from the park by one of the custodians was to the TV station.

That all but guaranteed the park would become a circus before police could arrive on the scene.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Boston**

Kate Todd had not grown up around cops, detectives nor federal agents. Her life experience in law enforcement amounted to her two-plus years at NCIS; however much she learned from Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Ziva, and Jane; and what Julie and her middle brother, Daniel, were able to show her in the too-short time they had to spend with one another.

More than once, Tony and Jane explained the idea of an informant to her and why cops used them. It nagged Kate that she had forgotten how much Jane told her about Rondo, and Tony's experiences with his own C.I.s before he joined NCIS.

Maybe it was because Kate had a lot of other things thrown at her, or because showing an NCIS badge or barging in and shouting 'FEDERAL AGENTS' got the desired results for Team Gibbs.

Kate had a far greater understanding of law enforcement now than she had when Gibbs hired her, and there were many things she might not have 'agreed with' before that she now did.

Paying informants money, with lives on the line, wasn't one of them, not yet. Despite all of the explanations and rationalizations from Jane and Tony coming back to her mind, Kate was still outraged over she, Gibbs and Woody giving Rondo money.

"You paid the guy for information?" Kate asked Gibbs, pointedly. "Is that even legal? And with those things" - Kate pointed to the Medical Examiner's Office van the statue was in - "popping up every day?"

"Agent Gibbs, may I?" Woody asked Gibbs; the older agent nodded.

"You ever work in civilian law enforcement, Agent Todd?" Woody asked Kate.

"No," she said, knowing where Woody was going. "NCIS. Before that, Secret Service." She needed the refresher.

"And I'm sure you learned quite a bit in both agencies," Woody replied. "Something you probably never had to deal with is working with a criminal informant-"

"I know what they are, Detective," Kate interjected. "Jane told me about that particular informant once. It took me a minute to remember him...giving him money just seems wrong, especially with a case like this."

"There are good reasons why LEOs often use C.I.s," Woody said, politely. "They give us information we often can't get otherwise. Sometimes, as part of the deal, you have to pay them money...you don't think that's...right?"

"Honestly?" Kate replied, and Woody nodded. "No. I don't. With a drug bust, sure. With a serial killer? That guy ought to give us information for free."

"I know we haven't had to resort to paid informants, Kate," Gibbs interjected. "Civilian LEOs, it's a necessity."

Gibbs made a mental note to sit Kate - and McGee, and Ziva - down and review practices of local law enforcement when he got back to D.C.

"Not all informants are criminals. We call Rondo a C.I., and he does have a record, but nowadays he keeps his nose clean," Woody said. "Rondo helps people, including homeless kids. He uses the money to survive; Jane and I've seen him give twenties to people he thought were more needy than he was."

"Rizzoli thought Rondo was a good guy at heart," Gibbs added.

"He's really more of an 'informant'," Woody continued. "He knows people throughout the shadier parts of Boston. Small-time thieves, gang members, drug dealers. Important players in the local crime families, even Paddy Doyle's organization."

"Thought Ari took the biggest part of it out and you cleaned up the rubble?" Gibbs asked.

"For the most part, though some stayed out of jail and are still loyal to the guy," Woody said. "Ever since last year, during the terrorist attacks...and when we hoped Jane and Maura would make it...Rondo's been looking out. For Jane, and for us. He's been a big help, Agent Todd. And he's a good guy. A few twenties each time - especially since he's homeless - won't hurt us."

"Thought he lived at a shelter?" Gibbs said, as he and Kate eyeballed two women, off in the distance, running towards the scene.

"He does...several," Woody said, hearing familiar voices in the background, and turning around to look for the source.

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, bickering all the way, both stepped under the yellow tape cordoning off the crime scene; Jane frantically looked for someone, with Maura alongside her.

They saw Jordan, still with the statue as it was being put into the back of a Medical Examiner's Office van; Maura broke from Jane, heading towards Jordan and the statue, while Jane stood, looking around before seeing Gibbs, Kate and Woody, then ran to them.

"Where's Rondo?" Jane said to Woody.

"With a uniform, getting a cup of coffee," Woody replied, nodding to his left; Rondo leaned against the hood of a police car, drinking a cup and munching on a donut.

"How much did you pay him?" Jane said.

"Eighty," Woody said, "between the three of us."

"_Eighty_? He'll say that's not enough - waitaminute. You three _paid_ him" - Jane pointed to Kate and Gibbs - "did he see someone - do we have a suspect?"

"We got a sketch," Kate said, reaching into her backpack and pulling out her pad. "Rondo was very detailed."

Jane and the others looked at the sketch, a side portrait of a white male, athletic, wearing a skull cap and a black jacket.

"Great job, Kate," Jane said. "That's really good."

"I hope it's something to go on," Kate replied. "Rondo seemed to remember certain details. How his nose looked. Jaw structure. Even that the guy was clean shaven. And the cap was pulled over his eyes, enough that he didn't see the guy's eyebrows."

"I see this is your formal introduction to Rondo," Jane said to Kate.

"I filled her in," Woody said. "And gave her a brief intro to confidential informants 101."

"I must've forgotten what you told me about Rondo last year-and what Gibbs and Tony mentioned the past couple of years off and on," Kate said, smiling apologetically.

"You won't forget today...right, Agent Todd?" Gibbs said; Kate shook her head, vigorously.

Maura and Jordan joined the group, and Woody caught Rizzoli and Isles up on the crime scene and what Rondo told Kate about the suspect. Then Jordan verified the statue was identical to the others.

"Well, we've confirmed there's a body underneath, and it's headed to the morgue now," Jordan said. "Caucasian, roughly the same height and same weight as the other victims."

"Body temperature was 44 degrees, consistent with being left in cold storage anywhere from 12 to 36 hours," Maura added. "The red stain drip from the stump at first glance looks consistent with the red stains from the other victims."

"The other statues having small amounts of water mixed with carminic acid used to make chocineal dye. Red dye," Jordan added.

"Results from this particular statue, and victim, are pending a full autopsy, and findings from CSU's examination of the red stain," Maura followed.

"Oh, Dr. Isles?" Jane replied, jokingly. "What else might it be? Kool-Aid?"

"I would wait until testing verifies the ingredients," Maura replied, seriously. "However, I will tell CSU to search for a liquid which contains malic acid; malodextrin; citric acid; calcium phosphate; sugar; salt; acesulfame potassium; absorbic acid; a coloring agent such as red dye-"

"Maur." Jane said, then turned to the others. "Any security camera footage that could show the suspect?"

"There probably won't be any; that's the other thing Rondo gave us, besides a description of the suspect and his U-Haul," Kate said. "Rondo said the suspect pointed a laser at the buildings, where the cameras would be."

"Laser pointer would disable the cameras," Gibbs added. "August. We captured an AWOL Marine who robbed a bank in Quantico, used a laser pointer to take out all but one of the bank's security cameras."

"Great," Jane said, exasperated. "I hope there's one this masked guy overlooked. Woody, let's make sure CSU gets those cameras."

A member of Boston P.D.'s Crime Scene Unit division was in the area; Jane yelled at him to come over.

"Cameras were wiped clean," he told the group. "Last recorded time stamp is right before your informant says he saw the suspect. Then? Bright light, and nothing."

"Thanks, Jorge," Jane said. "Let us know if you find anything worth using from the cameras...the last recorded time on the footage. It's not uncommon for Rondo to be up real early in the morning, he'll usually head from one mission to get breakfast at another mission - the Baptists, four blocks down."

"So he would have been up, and in the area, since Fenway is in the route from where he sleeps to the Baptist mission," Woody added.

"Guy took out the cameras so no one could see him," Gibbs said. "Rizzoli. What if the suspect saw your C.I.?"

"What if..." Jane said. "Woody. We'll need to put Rondo into protective custody. I'll go over and talk with him" - Jane looked back, saw that Rondo was still with the officer - "and tell him what and why...and Gibbs, and Kate. We'll reimburse you your money."

The cell phones of both detectives and M.E.s rang simultaneously.

"Thanks," Jane said, hanging up. "Gibbs, Kate. They found another statue. Amusement park in town. Frost and Korsak are on their way. I'll get Maura."

"Day gets better and better," Woody said.

Kate began jogging back towards her car, hoping it hadn't been towed by now, and was surprised to see Gibbs jogging right alongside her.

"Your car over there, Gibbs?" Kate asked.

"Caught a ride with an officer," Gibbs said. "You drive."

"Yes you may, Gibbs. You're welcome, Gibbs," Kate said; she - and Abby and probably Ducky and Director Shepard - could get away with talking to him like that, and get a smirk from the silver-haired former Marine.

Both agents' minds were on the case, and only on the case, and nowhere close to what certain detectives might think of seeing them ride together based on scuttlebutt from the past few days.

Gibbs got a call on his phone as Kate drove to the amusement park.

It was from Tony, en route to a crime scene, with McGee driving and Ziva in the middle.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss?"

"DiNozzo."

"Metro PD found a Venus de Milo statue in a freezer near Rock Creek Park of all places a half-hour ago," Tony said. "Ducky and Palmer's gonna meet us there. Me, Ziva and McGee are headed there now."

"Every detail, DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered. "Call me first. Have McGee send the report to Kate's phone, and Boston Homicide. Also. Tell Abby Dr. Isles's office and Boston CSU will send photos and findings on two statues found today."

"Two?" Tony said, as McGee briefly glanced over and Ziva turned her head in surprise. "Two more?"

"Just left the scene from the first, headed to the second," Gibbs followed. "Call me when you get an I.D. on the victim. And tell Metro NOT to release this to the media."

Gibbs hung up.

"They found another one?" Kate said.

"Metro did," Gibbs said. "Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky are on their way...DiNozzo sounded calm."

"McGee must be driving the van," Kate said.

"Didn't hear him half-shouting - or any screeching and honking in the background," Gibbs said, and he and Kate both shared a laugh.

Soon, they got to the amusement park, saw the large crowd, and were both snapped back into the reality of the moment.

**The amusement park**

The park was worse of a scene than the bar and grill, with a larger crowd of civilians, along with every local TV and radio station that had a news team, and a ZNN truck.

"ZNN. _That's_ nice," Kate said, sarcastically.

Gibbs and Kate got to the scene - Kate following Gibbs, who was pushing past people and a few reporters - and stepped under the tape.

A carousel was still running, with another statue in place.

"Gibbs," said Lt. Cavanaugh, who had drove directly to the scene after getting the call. "Two in one day. This is a disaster. We've got to _find_ this bastard-"

"Three, Lieutenant."

"THREE?"

"Yeah...Metro D.C. police just found one, an hour ago, in the middle of a drug bust. My team's headed there now."

"We've _got_ to find this bastard," Cavanaugh yelled to his detectives and officers. "Frost. Jane. Somebody slow that thing down!"

After Frost jumped onto the quickly moving carousel and shut it off, he jumped off and looked at the two nearby security cameras.

"Get me the footage," he said to one of the park's security guards; a few minutes later, they, the other detectives, Cavanaugh, Gibbs and Kate looked at the footage - which ended with a red flash, followed by a white screen.

"Both completely taken out," Frost commented. "I doubt you'll get any more use out of either camera."

"Just like the ones near the Fenway statue," Jane added, then looked at the guard, showing her Kate's sketch pad with the drawing of the Fenway suspect. "You or anyone else see this guy? Or someone who looks like him?"

"Nope," the guard replied; she and her fellow guards only saw each other.

**Washington**

**Franco's Steak Place  
two blocks from Rock Creek Park**

Tony was ten paces ahead of the others, and entered the meat locker looking for the ranking detective on site.

Detective Cooper was looking at the statue, along with Ducky and Palmer.

"Didn't expect to see you here this soon, Duck," Tony said, as he eyeballed a patch of cloth on the statue's thing.

"I ate here a month ago," Jimmy said, grinning. "Came by two weeks ago for the prime rib, excellent by the way, and saw it was closed and shuttered-"

"Mister Palmer's usual propensity to get lost obviously did not come into play this morning," interrupted Ducky, as he bent down to examine the cloth on the statue. "Hmm."

"Hmm?" Tony said. "What do you mean by '_hmm_'?"

"Most peculiar," Ducky mused, looking over the leg, before feeling around the edges.

"Dr. Mallard," said Jimmy, peering over Ducky's shoulder. "Is that cloth cut into the plaster?"

"The 'cloth', Mr. Palmer, is inside the cloth," Ducky replied, "except for this particular portion."

McGee and Ziva joined the trio, and began looking over the statue themselves, with Ziva looking it up and down closely, head to toe.

So was Tony.

"Something's off about this one," he said.

"It is not as smooth as the others," Ziva added. "A bit rougher...as if the victim-"

"-was fully dressed," Ducky replied.

The NCIS team looked over the statue, without speaking, until Palmer broke the silence: "Uh, guys, what are we looking for, exactly?"

"She's dressed in her uniform," McGee said. "The cloth sticking out; that's her pant leg."

All of the previous victims around the country were either nude or stripped to their underwear.

"Nice observation, Probie," Tony said, without any of the usual sarcasm that came when he spoke to McGee. "Look at her feet."

"It appears she is wearing shoes," Ziva added. "And look at the stumps on the arms."

"Right at the sleeve, if I remember my Naval uniforms correctly," Ducky said. "We need to get this woman back to the morgue promptly for confirmation, but I believe it is fair to say she - unlike the other victims - is fully dressed."

The team finished processing the scene - including the drip from the stump on the right arm - and found dolly tracks leading outside. The remainder of the restaurant was abandoned, with only two chairs and a menu sighted.

"Even the food preparation equipment has been removed," Ziva said, as Tony scrunched his eyebrows, then took another look around.

"When we get back, Ziva, find out who owned this place; McGee, why it shut down," Tony said. "I'll call Gibbs and Kate."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Boston**  
**Boston P.D., Division One, Homicide squadroom**  
**and**  
**Washington**  
**Navy Yard, NCIS Headquarters**

"Got you on speaker phone with your team in Washington, Agent Gibbs," Frost said to Gibbs, who stood to the side of Frost's desk; Kate stood next to Gibbs, with Jane, Korsak and Woody completing the circle.

"_DiNozzo_," Gibbs barked.

Back in Washington, Tony went right into a debrief of the crime scene and victim, while McGee put her photo up on both of the team's monitors and Ziva held a laptop for Tony. Ducky and Palmer were in the middle of cutting away the plaster, while Abby was running fingerprints.

"You got any more, DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.

"We'll have to call you-" Tony began...

..."TONY TONY TONY TONY TONY!" finished a very enthusiastic Abby, yelling so loud that everyone on the other line in Boston - and anyone on the third floor at NCIS - clearly heard her.

"Gibbs and Kate are on the line," McGee said to her. "And Boston."

"Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs! Kate Kate Kate! Boston Boston Boston!" Abby happily shouted into the speakerphone in front of the big monitor. "Are Jane and Maura there? Hi Jane! Hi Maura!"

"Jane says hi, Abby," Jane replied, a little awkwardly.

"Dr. Isles is downstairs working on one of the latest victims," Kate added as she looked at the three male detectives with them, looking confused at the...voice...on the other end.

"Abby Sciuto," Jane interjected, like she was reading Kate's mind. "NCIS's forensics analyst."

"Abs, what'cha got?" Gibbs said, steering the meeting back on topic.

"It took me a little longer than expected to I.D. her," Abby said, as Ducky stepped off the rear elevator and headed towards the NCIS team's bullpen. "Her fingerprints were worn down. Someone - assuming the killer - tried to make identifying her by fingerprint difficult, and they did it by sanding her finger and thumb prints."

"Sanding?" Korsak said. "Your victim's fingers were sandpapered?"

Abby - after explaining that she was giving them the short version - said the vic's fingerprints were sanded down, haphazardly, and dipped in some sort of acidic solution.

"Whomever did this to her, did it either right before or right after she died," Abby said. "And, they did it like they were in a hurry."

"A hurry to kill the next victim?" Jane said.

"Maybe," Gibbs said. "You get anything off the prints, Abs?"

"Yes!" Abby said, enthusiastically. "That's the thing. The killer was in such a hurry he didn't complete the job. So...I was able to get a print off her right index finger, and...ta-da!...McGee...McGee?"

After a moment of confusion, McGee figured the information had been emailed to his computer; a few moments later - and with Tony and Ziva nodding and gesturing at him to hurry up - McGee called up a photo of the victim's identification badge.

"Caitlin Holt, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Judge Advocate Corps," McGee read off the photo, before looking at another file. "Stationed out of JAG's Falls Church office. Recently assigned there, a month ago...she's a lawyer."

"There's today's military connection," Woody said; Gibbs unexpectedly looked up and glared at him, then said "it's no joke, Detective."

"Sir? Never said it-" Woody began in response, before stopping after Jane and Korsak shook their heads 'no'.

"Jethro, Anthony, detectives," Ducky said, hoping to prevent the Boston detective on the other line from derailing the conversation. "Mr. Palmer and I managed to cut away the plaster, and surprisingly, only a small portion of it stuck to her summer dress uniform."

"She was dressed in her summer uniform, not her formal dress uniform," Tony added.

"The fabric would be lighter, and perhaps more conducive to being encased in a plaster tomb," Ducky replied. "I found her identification badge wrapped in saran wrap, placed in her brassiere. However, when I removed the wrapping it was barely legible."

"Her name's Caitlin," Frost stated, and Kate winced.

"Hell of a coincidence," said Korsak, who spotted Gibbs' stone-faced reaction.

There are no coincidences in Gibbs' worldview.

"You found the body in a freezer?" Gibbs asked, and Tony, McGee and Ziva explained where they found Holt and the background behind the site:

* Franco's Steak House, once an up-and-coming four-star restaurant, abruptly shut down two weeks ago  
* The owner fell into massive debt, and decided to open his restaurant as a front for drug dealers, using the money to pay off the debt  
* After the restaurant shut down, Franco disappeared; he's wanted by both the FBI and the DEA  
* According to the DEA, Franco also leased out his business to unsavory characters. DEA agents staking out the establishment reported seeing people going in and out the back entrance after the restaurant closed - with the electric bill paid in full for the month

Tony saw another report among the stack of files left by the DEA agent on his desk; thumbing through it, he saw something that was probably important.

"Uh, boss...DEA agent's report says they saw something being dollied in...time would be four days ago...3 a.m.," Tony said, and he could almost feel the impending head slap from his boss.

Kate and the Boston detectives saw Gibbs' annoyed reaction.

"Could have said that a little _earlier_, DiNozzo," he said, bluntly.

"Sorry boss," Tony blurted. "Got lost amidst the dozens of folders-"

"DiNozzo."

"Yes boss," Tony continued. "Ducky said the time of death was probably four or five days-"

"I put the time of death for the lieutenant initially at 72 to 96 hours," Ducky interjected, as much for Tony's sake as providing vital information. "After Mr. Palmer and I removed her from her plaster tomb and conducted a proper examination, I revised the time to 96 hours. She's been there four days, give or take a few hours."

Tony then said Agent Balboa was assigned to follow up on the missing lieutenant; given that his team caught another case involving a drug dealer - and her status as one of the Venus de Milo Killer's latest victims - Director Shepard reassigned the case to Gibbs's team.

Gibbs, of course, already knew that, having spoken with Jenny right before the conference call.

"Call Fornell if FBI or DEA give you any trouble, and contact me or Kate when you hear something and when anything else comes up," Gibbs said.

**Boston**  
**Morgue**

Maura and her assistant, Susie Chang, were about to conclude their examination of the victim from the carousel, while Jordan and her assistant finished their exam on the Fenway victim.

"Got anything for us?" Jane said, as Gibbs and Kate followed her into the morgue.

Both were prostitutes, and both had cigarette burns on their bodies, Jordan said.

"The victim from the carousel had something the other vic didn't," Jordan said.

"Which was?" Kate.

"She has given birth, recently," Maura replied. "And she had heroin in her system."

"Jesus," Jane responded. "She had a baby?...we have to ID her...I'll take Frost and show her picture around, see what we can find-"

"Be a good idea to take your informant along," Gibbs added. "Long enough to help with the locals. They'd probably respond better to him than to us."

"Us?" Jane said, then realized what the agent had in mind. "Oh. You're going with us too. How could I forget?", Jane said sarcastically.

"And Kate," Gibbs said with a smirk.

**Elsewhere in Boston**

The two detectives and two agents - and Rondo - rode into the part of Boston notorious for its hookers; the five got out of Frost's car, and began showing the carousel and Fenway victims' pictures around.

Several car-lengths away, a white male, wearing a Bruins cap and jacket and glasses, sat in a beat-up Impala, observing the twosome on one side and threesome on the other side of the street. So far, no one was walking in his direction.

Gibbs and Kate confirmed the Fenway victim was a regular, and some of the prostitutes offered up a regular named "Bear" as a potential perp. Gibbs asked a hooker if Bear drove any of the cars up and down the street; she shook her head.

"Hey my man Gibbs!" Rondo said, as Gibbs and Kate crossed the street to where Rondo, Jane, Frost and a couple of hookers stood.

One of the hookers - a transvestite who went by Chrissy and Rainbow - referenced Bear. The other one - Kitty - said Bear usually drove a blue pickup truck, with tools strewn around the cab.

Gibbs surreptitously looked at the various vehicles up and down the street, including the Impala.

"He drive anything else? Anything you might have seen recently, or see tonight?" Gibbs asked Chrissy and Kitty, who shook their heads.

The agents and detectives and Rondo made their way back to Frost's car, and Gibbs looked back towards the Impala, hoping to get a clearer view of the driver.

The car was empty.

"Frost," Gibbs said. "Slow down near that white car, 50 feet ahead." Frost did as Gibbs instructed, and stopped.

"No one's there," Jane said, and the four agents asked two hookers standing nearby if they had seen the driver. No, they hadn't.

"No one's seen anything, other than this Bear character," Kate said. "Gibbs. You think there's something to this car?"

Gibbs said nothing, giving Kate an 'of course I do' look.

"No luck running the plates," Frost said, looking at the bumper. "He doesn't have any."

"And looks like the VIN was scratched off," Jane added, shining a flashlight on the front window. Then she looked at Gibbs.

"Frost, let's have this car taken back to the station and run it for prints," Jane said.

"Good idea, detective," Frost replied. "Or did you read Agent Gibbs' mind?"

Jane smacked her partner on his arm, and Gibbs smiled, while scanning the neighborhood for the man with the Bruins cap and glasses.

He was long gone, running down an alley towards another beater. He ditched his clothes eight blocks away at a gas station, then headed back to his apartment.

**Maura Isles' home**

"Eat up," Angela Rizzoli said to Jane, Kate and Gibbs as the trio entered Maura's living room. "I spent all evening making a good, healthy meal for you."

"Better not be kale," Jane said, earning herself a glare from her mother.

"Well, kate does have many healthy and nutritious benefits, and can be prepared with a variety of tasty methods," Maura added. "But we have pizza."

Gibbs and Kate thanked Angela and Maura for the dinner, which included salad with four different dressings and baked Italian bread. "Thanks, Ma," Jane added, giving her Ma a hug before heading towards the supreme pizza.

"You put a lot of effort into this dinner, Angela," commented Kate, content with salad and a slice of vegetarian pizza.

"It was either that, or knit, and I knew you three would be hungry," Angela said.

The door bell rang, unexpectedly to all but Angela. "I've ordered some yarn from Amazon dot com," she explained.

"You ordered more yarn? For Lydia's kid?" Jane said.

"For myself. It helps me cope with the stress," Angela replied, as the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Gibbs said, and made his way to the door to open it.

It wasn't a FedEx driver with the delivery of yarn.

It was Dennis Rockmond, holding an orchid.

"Hello," he said. "Is Dr. Isles in?"

Gibbs' gut instantly went into overdrive.


End file.
